Social media giant says the trial, which rolls out Thursday, will ‘reduce pressure’ on users of the platformInstagram users in Australia will no longer be able to see how many likes a post has a received under trial changes to “remove pressure” on the digital platform’s users. Instagram will on Thursday begin rolling out the trial update removing the total number of likes on photos and viewings of videos on user feeds and profiles, and permalink pages. Users will still be able to see a list of likes on their posts, just not the overall number. The trial update expands on a similar change introduced in Canada in May and will be extended to New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Italy and Brazil. The Facebook Australia and New Zealand director of policy, Mia Garlick, said Instagram should be a place where people feel comfortable expressing themselves, rather than judged.

Source: The Guardian July 17, 2019 21:22 UTC