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X is rolling out private likes<\/a> as soon as today, according to a source at the company. That means what users like on the platform will be hidden by default, which is already an option for X\u2019s Premium subscribers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A few weeks ago, the\u00a0company\u2019s director of engineering, Haofei Wang<\/a>, said the change is meant to protect users\u2019 public image\u00a0\u2014 because \u201cmany people feel discouraged\u201d to like \u201cedgy\u201d content. The Likes tab on user profiles will be gone. Users will still be able to see who liked their posts and the like count for all posts, but they will not see the people who liked someone else\u2019s post, according<\/a> to X senior software engineer Enrique Barragan. (He also hinted at the launch today<\/a> in a post.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSoon you\u2019ll be able to like without worrying who might see it,\u201d Wang\u00a0said<\/a> in a post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Late last year, X owner Elon Musk told the platform\u2019s engineers that he wanted to get rid of the tweet action buttons altogether and instead place a stronger emphasis on post views (also called \u201cimpressions). Musk\u2019s goal was to remove the section that contained the like and repost buttons entirely because Musk believed likes weren\u2019t important, a source told me at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n