Here's What We Know About Instagram's Like Count Ban Coming To The U.S.
Anyone who is moderately connected to the vast world of social media has most likely heard about Instagram's infamous “Like Count Ban” — the popular photo-sharing app is now testing a feature that inhibits users from seeing how many “likes” other users get for their Instagram posts. The feature is currently being tested in several countries across the globe, and as you could probably imagine, most are not thrilled about it, in the slightest. So, you might be wondering: Will Instagram roll out a U.S. like count ban? Well, here's what we know about the possibility.
A few months back in May 2019, Instagram Canada announced that they would no longer be enabling users to see how many likes each photo and video post receives, because they “want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram,” and instead, to “spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.” It’s an overall wholesome sentiment, if you ask me, but users — influencers and social media marketers, especially — were not pleased, to say the least.
The app received a decent amount of pushback from Canada's faithful IG users. However, despite the negativity, Instagram announced they would be enabling the feature in Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand, according to a tweet on July 17. Check it out, below.
And while nobody knows where the feature will spread to next, the United States is definitely in the hot seat. Despite the fact that U.S. Instagram users have not been cursed with the feature yet, it seems like it might make its way here soon. Elite Daily reached out to Instagram's parent company, Facebook, for and info on the possibility of a U.S. like count ban, and although there is no confirmation on if or when the feature will come to the United States, the brand shared how the testing is going.
A Facebook spokesperson tells Elite Daily the Fortune-500 company is "excited" to test this feature in more demographics around the world, mentioning it's still in early phases of the test. However, the United States seems like it could be a likely contender for hosting the test.
In the email sent to Elite Daily, a Facebook company spokesperson said:
We’re excited to expand the test to a number of markets across the globe. We don’t want Instagram to feel like a competition – we hope to learn whether this change can help people focus less on likes and more on telling their story.
While it seems like Instagram is all aboard the like count ban, it appears to already be unpopular with influencers in countries where it's being rolled out. Since influencers rely on likes for a lot of their business, the like count ban test is revealing a problem they may run into if the features becomes permanent. Per Tech Crunch, Instagram is apparently looking to figure out a solution to this impending issue, but they haven't come up with anything yet.
Like I said, nothing is confirmed yet. However, it seems as though the like count ban is spreading pretty rapidly. And with the United States' high user base, it's likely bound to be a test market. Just start mentally preparing for those likes to disappear right before your eyes... I wish you the best of luck.
