Elon Musk’s X platform is giving premium subscribers the ability to hide their likes tab from public view. The new feature was announced on September 15, 2023, and is available to all X Premium users, which costs $8 per month in the U.S.
When enabled, the likes tab disappears completely from the user’s profile. However, the user’s likes are still visible on individual posts. It is also unclear what would happen if a user ever stopped paying for X Premium, though it seems likely that the likes tab would reappear at that point.
The new feature is the latest exclusive perk that Musk has introduced for premium subscribers. Musk has said in the past that he wanted likes to be private, and the bookmarks feature available to all users could be used in a similar way if a user wanted to save things privately.
There have been multiple instances throughout the years in which Twitter likes have embarrassed high-profile users, who often didn’t seem to realize their likes were public. In 2017, after Ted Cruz’s official account liked a pornographic clip, the senator blamed a staffer who he said had hit the wrong button. Something similar happened to pop star Harry Styles in 2014 (he eventually unliked it and instead favorited a bunch of pictures of animals). It also happened to Samuel L. Jackson.
Musk’s own likes are still public. In a post on X, he said he recommends keeping them publicly viewable and using the bookmarks feature for “interesting posts.” His most recent likes include Musk fan accounts posting quotes and photos of him, memes, and a post by an account called “End Wokeness.”
The sources for this piece include an article in TheVerge.
