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X’s new commander-in-chief has made ‘likes’ private, much to the chagrin of its nosy users.
Massive increase in likes after they were made private! pic.twitter.com/f5SisAw5w3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2024
It’s an obvious affront to busybodies who snoop through their enemies’ likes for offensive content, but anonymous accounts have also taken a surprising stance against the move, viewing it as a boost to the bots and spam accounts that hit “like” on otherwise unpopular posts from corporations and the like. Users now have no way of knowing if an account’s engagement is genuine, or astroturfed through an army of fake accounts.
The real victims, of course, are women — the app once provided a window into mens’ inner lives. Is my boyfriend liking e-girls’ selfies? Where does my co-worker stand on the Israel-Palestine conflict? What funny tweets have my friends been liking? Now we have no way to know.
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