Instagram Hides 'Likes' Count on App, Here’s All You Need to Know About it

Back in May, Instagram began testing a new feature in Canada that would hide public ‘like’ counts on all photo and video posts. Now, months later, Instagram has extended this action to several other countries including Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand. In a recent tweet by the official Twitter account of the social media app, Instagram has announced that it has decided to hide the likes count on the app. The tweet, posted a few days back, read, “We’re currently running a test that hides the total number of likes and video views for some people in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand.”

The tweet further reads, “We want your friends to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get. You can still see your own likes by tapping on the list of people who've liked it, but your friends will not be able to see how many likes your post has received. We’re looking forward to learning more about how this change might benefit everyone’s experience on Instagram.”

As per the new feature, while the user will still be able to have a look at who all liked their photo or video, they won’t be able to see the count of likes on any post. The number won’t automatically appear under the post and the user will have to tap “others” under the post to go through to the total number of likes. Instagram first made the announcement about this test in April during Facebook's F8 developer conference in order to combat online bullying and mental pressure.