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Celebrities and influencers are furious at Instagram's experiment with hiding likes, and some are threatening to stop posting on the app
Celebrities and influencers are furious at Instagram's experiment with hiding likes, and some are threatening to stop posting on the app
Aaron HolmesNov 11, 2019, 21:12 IST
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Greg Allen/Invision/AP
Instagram will start testing a feature that hides "like" counts on posts for some US users starting this week.
Celebrities and influencers have expressed outrage with the experimental feature, arguing that it weakens their leverage over brand deals and promotions.
But a few celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, have praised the decision.
The feature has already been piloted in seven countries including Australia, Ireland, and Canada.
Instagram is testing a new feature in the US this week that could be its most controversial yet: hiding the number of "likes" on posts.
The new feature, announced by Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Friday, is being met with strong backlash, especially from many influencers and celebrities.
The feature has already been piloted in seven countries including Australia, Ireland, and Canada in recent months. When it was rolled out there, influencers complained that hiding likes would give them less leverage over brand deals and sponsored content.
Now, American celebrities are calling out the app for experimenting with removing likes, with some threatening to stop posting to Instagram entirely. Others took to Twitter to joke about the proposed changes.
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But some, including Kim Kardashian, have heralded Instagram's decision as a boon to users' mental health.
Here's what influencers and celebrities are saying about the new feature that hides likes on Instagram.
Minaj went on to speculate that Instagram is hiding likes in order to manipulate what posts users see in their feed, regardless of how much engagement posts are getting.
Minaj apparently referred to the well-documented phenomenon of YouTube view counts fluctuating after videos are posted, which can happen when YouTube determines views come from bots or other fraudulent sources.
And who do you think is controlling those numbers? so that influencers can be out here “influencing” ppl to LIKE all the new stuff they bout to do? They gotta get y’all on board to spread the word. Just like how YouTube can take away or add a million views @ any given moment 😛 https://t.co/7Bqz0QbRvI
Cardi B took to Instagram to protest the feature, arguing that removing likes wouldn't make Instagram any less toxic because "the comments affect more than the likes."
Rapper Rico Nasty said the decision to hide likes will "kill Instagram."
Damn they really gonna kill Instagram how they did MySpace .... what a time y’all see y’all on the new app 😘🙀
But some people view the decision to hide likes as a good thing, including Kim Kardashian West.
"As far as mental health… I think taking the likes away and taking that aspect away from [Instagram] would be really beneficial for people," Kardashian West said during The New York Times DealBook conference last week.
Tracee Ellis Ross also voiced support for removing likes, stating that the like count "has adverse effects. It creates a culture that isn’t helpful for wellbeing and isn’t fruitful for creative energy.”
