Instagram To Start Hiding Like Counts In The U.S.

Instagram likes are about to disappear from public view for many more users: The Facebook-owned photo sharing service is getting ready to hide like counts from U.S. users as early as next week, CEO Adam Mosseri announced at a Wired event in San Francisco Friday. In an attempt to strengthen conversations over popularity contests, Instagram has been experimenting with hiding like counts from its users for a few months now. The service first began testing hidden like counts in Canada this spring, and subsequently expanded the test to half a dozen other countries, including Brazil, Japan and Australia. Instagram won’t be getting rid of like counts altogether; users will still be able to see how often a post of theirs has been liked. However, these like counts won’t be displayed to followers anymore, and won’t appear in public Instagram feeds. Read more at Variety.