X has rolled out an update that makes all “Likes” private within the app. According to X engineer Haofei Wang, the change aims to address concerns that public likes “are incentivizing the wrong behavior.”

This week we’re making Likes private for everyone to better protect your privacy.

– You will still be able to see posts you have liked (but others cannot).

– Like count and other metrics for your own posts will still show up under notifications.

– You will no longer see who…

— Engineering (@XEng) June 11, 2024

“For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be ‘edgy’ in fear of retaliation from trolls or to protect their public image,” Wang stated last month when announcing the coming change. “Soon you’ll be able to like without worrying who might see it.”

With the update now live, X users can like posts without their activity being visible to others. X believes this will give people more freedom to engage with a wider range of content in the app.

According to Social Media Today, the change could point to X exploring additional revenue opportunities related to explicit adult content. Historically, the platform has turned a blind eye to pornographic material being shared on the platform despite rules around acceptable content.

Recently, X updated its adult content policy to officially allow “consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behavior.” By privatizing likes, X may enable more users to engage with such posts discreetly, opening up the possibility of facilitating creator monetization through subscriptions akin to OnlyFans. X has not explicitly stated intentions around adult creator monetization.