The decision to hide likes on X promises an increase in privacy, but can also have negative consequences; see the opinion of the experts
OX (old Twitter) decided Leave all likes private on the social network. The change overturned an old configuration of the network and could change how people interact within it, which presents some potential risks. The X team explains that the decision to hide other people’s likes would be a way to “protect privacy”. On the other hand, this can encourage the presence of bots and amplify hate speech on the social network: Canaltech spoke with experts to assess the possible consequences.
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What changes in Likes?
With the change, Furthermore, it is no longer possible to see the list of people who liked the publication of a third-party account, in other words all methods of control over who liked what on the social network disappear. Elon Musk.
In short, only the account owner can see the list of publications he or she has liked and the list of people who have liked a post from that account: X also publicly displays the number of likes for each publication.
Potential risks
While the change could reduce the number of stalkers on the internet, there are two other possible consequences that prove the idea isn’t as good as it promises.
Avalanche bot
The first potential problem is the growing use of bots to “inflate” the engagement of posts: it is now no longer possible to monitor whether the likes were created organically or whether they had the help of robots to increase the results. A greater number of interactions may be attractive to advertisers, but it can also negatively affect content creators and brand owners on the network.
For advertiser and training specialist Antonio Gelfusa Junior, the measure could interfere with the real impact on the audience of a given account.
“Bots are already a reality on audience cannot express itself without the number of likes”, he comments.
Hate speech
The measure may also intensify hate speech and other negative behavior on the platform: without exposure to other people, profiles can like offensive posts and generate engagement with this type of content. It is worth mentioning that before the change it was possible to track public figures.
Researcher Tatiana Azevedo, who monitors extremist groups on social networks, warns of possible problems:
“Since Musk took control of Twitter (I refuse to call him X), the internet has become a more offensive place and hate speech has proliferated,” he comments. “The end of displaying likes leads to a lack of shame in liking extreme, inappropriate content and hate speech. Users now stop worrying about carefully monitoring their likes, at a time when the internet is more more permissive than ever”, continues the specialist.
Furthermore, it is important to remember that Likes directly influence the content suggested in the For You feed: the information is confirmed by the technical profile of the platform. Therefore, if a person likes several posts about hate speech, it is expected that the timeline will show more posts about the topic.
“No doubt people will feel more comfortable (for better or worse) expressing themselves through Likes. Hate has always been a big draw for engagement – imagine when people can, without any consequences, put do I like posts full of hatred and intolerance?”, reflects Azevedo. .
“Whereas the algorithm makes us see more of what we like, with an increase in likes on hateful posts, the algorithm will serve up more hateful content. This increase in consumption can actually increase the negative behaviors on and off the Internet,” he adds.
In parallel with the change in Likes, X also changed the terms and started to do so release adult content on the platform.
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Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
