Your ‘Likes’ tab on X (Twitter) is now hidden by default

In a move that’s sure to raise eyebrows, X (formerly Twitter) has made ‘Likes’ now private by default for all users.

On Wednesday, X users were greeted with a pop-up notification that read, “We are making Likes private for everyone to better protect your privacy.” This means your liked posts are now your secret business, visible only to you.

X Engineering says that you can still see who likes your posts, but the thrill (or horror) of seeing who liked someone else’s tweet is gone. The Likes tab on other users’ profiles has vanished as well, while yours remains accessible on the same place.

Metrics of Likes on posts will remain visible but the user list behind them is gone. The social element of seeing who else endorsed a particular post (by liking it) to appear on ‘For You’ page is gone as well.

The timing of this privacy push is interesting, considering X’s recent announcement permitting consensual pornography on the platform. This seems like a godsend for prominent users — no more public shaming for accidentally liking something a little too spicy.

According to X CEO Elon Musk, who weighed in on the changes via X itself, the goal is to “allow people to like posts without getting attacked.”

While that sounds good, there might be a deeper motive. Musk reportedly wants to de-emphasize the Like and Retweet (now Repost) buttons, placing more weight on post impressions (views) instead. This implies that Likes hold less value than pure engagement through views.

Whether this is a genuine concern or a strategic move to boost platform engagement (or both) remains to be seen.