Facebook is about to begin hiding like counts.
The tech firm is starting its experiment Friday in Australia to see if the feature can improve user well-being.
A Facebook spokesperson told us: “We are running a limited test where like, reaction and video view counts are made private across Facebook.
“We will gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people’s experiences.”
It means that affected users won’t be shown how many people have liked a post but they will still technically be able to count themselves if they expand the likes tab.
If the test goes well, Facebook reportedly will roll out the feature to more countries.
The changes come at a time when social media giants are under pressure to curb feelings of anxiety and depression that are being linked with their platforms.
Facebook hopes the move will make users feel more comfortable to share things on the platform because it should feel less like a competition.
Mia Garlick, director of policy for Facebook Australia, explained to the Australian Associated Press that the removal of likes should remove negative comparisons between users.
She said: “We’ve had really positive feedback from a lot of the anti-bullying groups and mental health organizations that we work with.”
“It really is just taking that number out of the equation, so that people can focus on the quality of their interactions and the quality of the content rather than on the number of likes or reactions.”
Businesses have been assured they will still receive the relevant data required to see if a post has done well and how many people it reached.
Instagram began testing a similar removal of likes in Canada earlier this year.
Many users of the photo app reported they preferred to not see a like count, so the feature was rolled out in more countries.
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