The feature will go public in the US next week.
Earlier this year, near mid April to be more specific, Instagram confirmed the testing of a new update (internally) that will hide the total like counts of Instagram photos and videos from the public according to TechCrunch. This is to remove the sense of competition among its users and to make it a safer place since the Parent company Facebook, has been caught up in so many scandals including racism in recent reports.
The company has already made significant changes to their app over the years along with the removal of the following tab and the introduction of the dark mode feature into its latest ios and select android builds of the app within the last few months.
Initial public testing of the "no like count" version of Instagram began in July and some users from specific countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand began to catch on this new feature.
It now seems the test got a positive feedback and as a consequence, Instagram will expand the testing to the US; confirmed by the CEO Adam Mosseri in an interview with WIRED today.
We’re currently running a test that hides the total number of likes and video views for some people in the following countries:— Instagram (@instagram) July 17, 2019
✅ Australia
✅ Brazil
✅ Canada
✅ Ireland
✅ Italy
✅ Japan
✅ New Zealand pic.twitter.com/2OdzpIUBka
It now seems the test got a positive feedback and as a consequence, Instagram will expand the testing to the US; confirmed by the CEO Adam Mosseri in an interview with WIRED today.
WATCH: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announces that the platform will start hiding likes for US audiences starting next week. It's the latest step in Instagram’s quest to become the safest place on the internet. https://t.co/BGkMG57rdk #WIRED25 pic.twitter.com/WNTyAPVhaD— WIRED (@WIRED) November 9, 2019
The new feature will not impact the algorithm used for the Instagram timeline, at least no one nor has there been any reports of this so far, but the company just wants you and "...your friends to focus on The photos and videos you shared not how many likes you get" you can view your own likes when you tap on the "..and others liked your photo" beneath your photo.
In a follow up tweet,
This major upcoming update will be a big disappointment for social media "influencers" but since they haven't talked about hiding or totally removing the follower count from Instagram profiles they should fine for now. Since the feature has finally hit the US, a world wide roll-out of this version should be expected anytime soon.
Update: Nov 14th, 2019:
Instagram just confirmed that the world-wide roll-out has finally has finally begun following a positive feedback from the earlier tests. Not everybody experience the disappearance of the likes yet since it's still in the testing phase but the main aim of this is for the company to "...learn more from our global community" and to prepare for a complete world-wide update.
In a follow up tweet,
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.— Instagram (@instagram) July 17, 2019
This major upcoming update will be a big disappointment for social media "influencers" but since they haven't talked about hiding or totally removing the follower count from Instagram profiles they should fine for now. Since the feature has finally hit the US, a world wide roll-out of this version should be expected anytime soon.
Update: Nov 14th, 2019:
Instagram just confirmed that the world-wide roll-out has finally has finally begun following a positive feedback from the earlier tests. Not everybody experience the disappearance of the likes yet since it's still in the testing phase but the main aim of this is for the company to "...learn more from our global community" and to prepare for a complete world-wide update.