Musk's X makes likes private for everyone to enhance privacy
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is implementing a significant change in its user experience. The company's CEO, Elon Musk, announced that likes will now be mostly private. As per the billionaire, this move is designed to allow people to "like posts without getting attacked for doing so." The feature was initially introduced as a perk for X Premium subscribers last year, under the tagline "Keep spicy likes private."
X to implement universal privacy for likes
X has announced that it will be rolling out the new feature this week, making likes private for all users. This means that users will no longer be able to see who liked someone else's post. The change is expected to prevent potential public relations crises for public figures who like controversial posts. However, users will still be able to view who liked their own tweets, as well as other metrics for their posts.
Impact on X Premium subscriptions and revenue
The universal privacy feature for likes will eliminate one of the reasons for users to opt for a premium subscription. This could potentially impact X's revenue, which saw a decline last year. In response to this decline, the company introduced two new subscription tiers. The Premium+ tier, priced at $16/month, removes ads from users' timelines. The cheapest tier, costing $3/month, does not include the platform's blue checkmark.
