Instagram has Started Hiding Likes – Here’s How it Works

If you use Instagram as often as we do, you’ve probably noticed that the number of likes have disappeared from posts on your timeline. Yup, that’s how Instagram works now.

Instagram announced on Thursday that it had begun to hide like count for users across the world, making a fundamental change to how the app is used.

How it works now is users see, instead of a number, a follower’s username “and others” liked the photo.

While the development has raised some concern among a few influencers, the folks at Facebook—Instagram’s parent company—told CNN that:

We understand that the number of likes is an important metric for many creators, and while this test is in exploratory stages, we are thinking through ways for creators to communicate value to their partners.