If you were up late last week scrolling through Instagram and noticed that the likes have disappeared, you’re not alone.
When asked about the issue, Instagram stated that they have been testing the concept of removing likes, something that’s currently being tested within a small group of people, and that a “bug accidentally expanded that pool. Instagram continued about how people were not intentionally being added to their pool of users being tested.
While Instagram has fortunately corrected the “bug, there’s still the question of why is this even a thing. Why is Instagram removing likes from its app?
As one of the most popular social media platforms, Instagram is always looking for innovative ways that separate itself from others; however, there’s been one controversial idea that has been floating around and that’s removing likes, something that has been in the testing phase since 2019.
The reason why the company was considering removing likes, according to Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri, was to allow Instagram to be a place where users didn’t have to worry about their statistics such as likes, shares and comments, benefiting the mental health of users.
And while that does make sense, on a large scale it may affect things such as marketing and advertising.
Fortunately, the “bug” is now removed, so there’s no need to delete the app!