- Earlier this year Instagram announced that they were experimenting with removing the total count of likes from posts in users' feeds, in order to create a "less pressured environment" on the platform.
- New information about the test suggests that likes could be scrapped altogether, as users spotted certain posts didn't have any likes displayed at all.
- An investigation by Business Insider found the appearance or removal of likes on posts depended on several factors including your relationship with the poster and who liked the post.
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UPDATE: AUGUST 15, 2019: Instagram has confirmed to Business Insider that it accidentally deleted likes on posts due to a bug.
Editor's note: On Tuesday, Business Insider Australia confirmed a large amount of users had "likes" removed from users' feeds completely. Instagram incorrectly confirmed at the time the removal of "likes" was a part of a global test.
The company has now backtracked and said it was a bug – but would not confirm how many users were affected. Business Insider confirmed it affected a large amount of users in multiple countries.
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Recently Instagram has been experimenting with removing the public "like" counts from posts — but new information about the test shows they're thinking about taking it one step further and possibly removing all likes completely.
In devastating news for influencers, users in the countries where the tests have been rolled out have found that on some Instagram posts, the likes have been completely removed.
In May, Instagram announced it was rolling out a trial that would hide like counts in Canada. Two months later, this rollout was repeated in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Ireland, Italy and Japan.
In the trial, users could no longer see the total number of likes on a post publicly and instead would only see "[name] and others" below posts where the like count used to be. However, Instagrammers could still see the number of likes on their own posts when looking at their own profile. The reason for removing likes on the public feed was, according to Instagram, to take the pressure off users and create a positive environment on the platform.
The news was covered extensively, but what was largely missed was the test totally scrapped likes from some posts deemed "unworthy" by Instagram.
The Facebook-owned platform told Business Insider that the trial that launched in the seven test countries had a mechanism that prevents likes showing at all on posts that do not meet a certain threshold. This was judged on several factors including your relationship with the poster and who else liked the post.
Instagram later backtracked on this comment and confirmed to Business Insider the removal of likes was due to a global bug and not connected to the test.
"Our test is about removing the pressure of like counts by making them private, not removing likes altogether. We found a bug where some people weren't seeing social context (e.g. 'Liked by XX and others') on some posts. We've corrected this and the fix will roll out in the coming days," an Instagram spokesperson told Business Insider Australia in a statement.
After conducting a non-scientific study to get to the bottom of the bug, Business Insider discovered that almost all sponsored posts, as well as a number of organic posts, did not contain any likes at all. The only exception was if the sponsored and organic posts were liked by people you follow.
This meant that a huge amount of Instagram posts no longer showed likes publicly at all – particularly from people who are not in your circle.
Instagram would not reveal any further details about the bug, such as the amount of users affected or countries affected. Business Insider understands the bug removed likes for users in all the test countries, except Canada.