Why did Instagram takes away likes? Here's why the 'Like Button' is not present on the app

Instagram mistakenly hid like counts for a large number of users on Tuesday, March 2, and the internet went into a frenzy. The unwelcomed change freaked many people out as it came with no warning and explanatory blog post about significant changes in the app. Many users on Twitter were understandably concerned while others thought that this was a good thing. Find out why did Instagram take away likes? Read | Sonali Bendre Behl shares her old picture on Instagram; calls it 'Way back Wednesday' Why did Instagram take away likes? When many Instagram users took to the app on Tuesday to check how many likes their recent post had garnered, they were merely told that their post was liked by a named account "and others". This change had apparently affected everyone in their users' feeds as well. Hence neither did they know how many likes they got nor could they see how many likes other people's Instagram posts got either. Read | Kartik Aryan shares the reason why he is 'So happy' on Instagram: Watch Instagram likes gone There is nothing to fret over here. According to Instagram this expansion of a "test" that's been in place for many users for months was unintentional. The social media app, took to another popular social media app Twitter to reveal that it was a mistake. Instagram immediately reversed it a few hours after it went live. Instagram revealed in its tweet, “We've been testing a new experience to hide likes on Feed posts. Earlier today, we unintentionally added more people to the test, which was a bug. This issue has now been fixed. People can pull down to refresh their feed and their likes should restore." Read | 'Emoji makeup' challenge trends on Instagram, netizens create amazing looks Although Instagram made it very clear that this was merely an unintentional gaffe on their part, it did not users' strong reactions from rolling in. The reactions were both positive and negative. While some netizens applauded the move as beneficial for users' mental health, immediately started missing the validation which the likes brought them. Many users also expressed concerns about how this could impact Instagram influencers' ability to make an income through their account. instagram hiding likes has me and my mental health absolutely vibing pic.twitter.com/4IeQ2OjIAZ — littlesiha (@littlesiha) March 3, 2021 so instagram got rid of likes and i think that was one of the most humanitarian moves they could have made. a world where kids grow up measuring their lives by likes never sat well with me. — 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝. (@ImanEurope) March 3, 2021 Y’all: “Did Instagram take away likes?” Me: “I am once again asking for IG posts to be shown in chronological order.” pic.twitter.com/wEllOjzfHE — NUFF (@nuffsaidny) March 3, 2021 Did Instagram do what was needed to end this toxic addiction to likes on photos......yes it did. pic.twitter.com/QLlKiQnHCf — REINE NKECHI 🇳🇬💕 (@KayC_JOJO) March 3, 2021 Ppl gettin mad about not seeing the number of likes they receive on ig bcuz they use that as some sort of validation currency shows is how deeply twisted and vain we are. Did Instagram reveal how we are reliant on social media for our sense of worth and self esteem? Yes it did. — Mani Phantom (@Sleezies) March 3, 2021 It is unclear how the bug came to be. According to a report in Mashable.com, the social media company declined to comment further when contacted about the Instagram update. A report on the website reveals that countries such as Canada, Australia, Ireland, Brazil, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand had already been dealing with the loss of likes since Instagram began testing the feature in 2019. Read | Janhvi Kapoor introduces Mr. Ramdas from sets of her upcoming film; check out pictures Source: Unsplash

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Why did Instagram takes away likes? Here's why the 'Like Button' is not present on the app

Instagram users were shocked on Tuesday when the 'Like Button' disappeared from the app after a new update was introduced. Find out what happened.

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