The Facebook-owned Instagram social network will start disabling Like Counters for users in the US next week. This was told by the head of the Instagram team Adam Mosseri in an interview at the Wired 25 conference.
A mode that significantly changes the usual Instagram operating principle is still in a test phase. Disabling meters will not occur simultaneously throughout the United States, but gradually. After switching, users can still see the number of likes received in their own posts, but not in other people’s posts.
Disabled counters have been tested by the Instagram team for several months, starting with the Canadians in April, and then expanding their reach to Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand. Disabling counters in the United States indicates the transition of tests to the final stage.
According to the developers, without counters, Instagram will reduce social “pressure” on users, and they will cease to see the main meaning of life in the race for likes.
