Social media networks currently exist in a juxtaposition; their main goal is to keep people engaged for as long as possible, but due to public pressure, they are also implementing features to limit addiction. Facebook appears to be experimenting with hiding like counts, similar to what Facebook-owned Instagram has been toying with.

The feature was uncovered by Jane Manchun Wong in an app teardown, and it works similarly to the like-hiding feature that Instagram is experimenting with: the amount of 'likes' a post receives is invisible to everyone except the creator of the post.

Following this report, TechCrunch asked Facebook for more information, and the company confirmed that hiding like counts is under development. However, the feature is not live for any users yet, so it could still change before the final rollout (if it ever does roll out).

The goal here is to make social media interactions less of a competition, though I do wonder how much of a benefit this implementation would be if the creator can still see the amount. Facebook is about the last company I would trust to get any wellbeing-related features right, but if this helps even one person, I won't complain.

Facebook Developer: Meta Platforms, Inc.
Price: Free
3.2
Download

Source: Jane Manchun Wong, TechCrunch