Instagram and Facebook let users remove likes and views from posts

Instagram and Facebook users will now have the option to hide their public like counts, the platforms announced. Instagram has been testing hiding like counts for a while.

Users can also hide like counts on others’ posts by visiting the ‘new posts’ section in Settings. This control applies to all the posts in the feed. They can also choose to hide like counts before sharing a post. The setting can be turned on or off, even after a post goes live.

“We’re looking for more ways to give people control over their experience. That’s why we announced new tools to allow people to filter offensive content from their DMs and gave people ways to control what they see and share on Facebook’s News Feed – like the Feed Filter Bar, Favorites Feed and Choose Who Can Comment,” the Facebook team said in a press release.

“What we heard from people and experts was that not seeing like counts was beneficial for some, and annoying to others, particularly because people use like counts to get a sense for what’s trending or popular, so we’re giving you the choice,” the team added.