Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has announced that X will no longer display the number of likes and reposts on each post. The change will take effect in the next few weeks, according to Musk.
Musk made the announcement at the Morgan Stanley technology, media and telecom conference on Wednesday, where he also said that X is close to obtaining a money transmitter license in New York, which would allow it to offer its users the option to send and receive payments through the platform.
Musk said that the decision to remove likes and reposts was motivated by his desire to make X more “clean and simple”, and to reduce the pressure and anxiety that users may feel from comparing themselves to others based on these metrics.
He also said that he believes that likes and reposts are not a good measure of the quality or popularity of a post.
“I think it’s better to just have the view count, because that’s more indicative of how much interest there is in a particular topic,” Musk said.
“Likes and reposts are kind of a distraction. They’re not really informative. They’re just a way of signaling to other people what you like or don’t like, but they don’t really add anything to the conversation.”
Musk also said that he hopes that removing likes and reposts will encourage more original and diverse content on X, rather than posts that are designed to appeal to the masses or generate controversy. “I think it will make X more authentic, more honest, more creative,” he said.
“I think people will be more willing to express their opinions and share their ideas, without worrying about how many likes or reposts they will get.”
