Instagram will begin hiding 'likes' soon. Here’s what that means

Instagram plans to remove the number of “likes” visible on posts for some users in the U.S. to decrease competitive pressure among people on the photo-sharing service. The photo- and video-sharing social networking service owned by Facebook has been hiding like counts in some markets since April, beginning in Canada, and later expanding to Japan and Brazil.

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The U.S. is one of Instagram’s largest markets with more than 106 million users, according to data analyst EMarketer. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, who announced the plan Friday at a conference in San Francisco, told NBC in October the effort was meant to “make Instagram feel less pressurized, to make it less of a competition.”

What it means

Instagram’s follower counts and likes have made it one of the top places online to compare one’s popularity with others, especially among teens and young adults.

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The company has tried for years to combat the competitive trend by promoting good role models via posts on its @instagram account, hoping to reflect the parts of the app that are about creativity and art as opposed to self-promotion. Still, striving for the metrics was irresistible for its users, contributing to mental health issues and other ills, such as users paying for fake likes and followers from bots.

Even some of the app’s most prolific celebrities have said a service without likes may be healthier for its users.

What to expect

The test will begin next week. Users will still be able to see the likes they receive on their posts if they want, but those metrics won’t be visible to others on Instagram, the company said.

Some celebrities have gone on social media in the last few days to talk about the upcoming change.

Entertainer Nicki Minaj tweeted she won’t use the Instagram app if the likes are removed.

Why it matters

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have been at the center of debate about issues such as smartphone addiction and online health in recent years. As a result, product “health” has become a priority at the social media companies, which are trying to balance the need to drive user growth and engagement with the outside perception that they are contributing to problems such as online bullying.

Instagram, for example, has also announced a feature in which users can limit the amount of time they spend on the app in a given day. Apple Inc. built a similar “time spent” feature into its iPhone software, and Google offers tools like this for Android phones. Twitter has a beta version of its main product that hides engagement metrics, including likes and retweets, from user replies and interactions.