Elon Musk’s X is preparing to make “likes” private on the social network, in a change that could potentially confuse users over the difference between something they’ve favorited and something they’ve bookmarked. According to new posts by company employees , the decision to hide likes is meant to incentivize engagement, by allowing people to favorite content that seems “edgy” and to protect their public image. It’s not clear this is the best solution to the problems X is trying to fix, such as more signal for its algorithm so it can better personalize its content to your interests.

some clarifications on the private likes change: – you will be able to see who liked your posts – you can see the like count for all posts / replies / etc – you cannot see the people who liked someone else's post – you cannot see others "Liked" tab on their profile The change comes across as somewhat unnecessary, given that X, the company formerly known as Twitter, already had a private way to save posts on the platform: bookmarks. While X’s bookmarks are meant for collecting posts you may want to refer back to or threads you may want to read later, they also served as the more private alternative to the “like.” Adding to the confusion is the fact that users will be able to see who liked their posts as well as the like count for all their posts and replies.

In other words, the private “like” is only semi-private — it’s known to the poster, who could theoretical.