Facebook will begin testing hiding the number of likes, reactions and views that posts get.
Angela Lang/CNET
Facebook will begin hiding likes on Friday, making the number of reactions, views and likes visible only to a post’s author. The test will begin in Australia, the social media giant confirmed Thursday, and includes ads.
How the like “count” will appear during the test.
“We are running a limited test where like, reaction and video view counts are made private across Facebook,” a Facebook spokesperson told CNET in an emailed statement Thursday.
Facebook added that it would “gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people’s experiences.”
The social network indicated earlier in September that it might experiment with hiding likes, after testing the approach on Facebook-owned Instagram this year. In August, Facebook said the Instagram test was meant to “remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive” on Instagram, and that Facebook was “excited by the early test results.”
As of July, Instagram like counts were hidden in seven countries: Australia, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy and Japan.
First published at 1:57 p.m. PT on Sept. 26.
Updated on Sept. 27 at 4:51 p.m.: Adds more info.