Instagram launches experiment to hide 'likes'

Instagram on Wednesday said it is testing a feature of hiding "like counts" in a bid to ease the pressure of getting approval from others. 

"In 2019, we started hiding like counts for a small group of people to understand if it lessens some pressure when posting to Instagram," a Facebook spokesperson told news agency AFP.

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"Some people found this beneficial but some still wanted to see like counts so they could track what’s popular."

It has been often seen that social media users keep a check on the number of people who have "liked" their content and builds pressure of increasing one's social acceptance and popularity, especially amongst the youth.

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This has also led to addictive and adverse effects on one's mental health. 

With this experiment, Instagram is allowing a small number of people across the world the option whether they want other people to see the number of "likes" on their posts.

"We're testing this on Instagram to start, but we're also exploring a similar experience for Facebook," the spokesperson added. 

Facebook said it was working with experts to see that the design tweaks such as this one on Instagram can help users well-being.