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Was Instagram's 'like' count deleted by mistake? How temporary bug forced users to delete the Facebook-owned app

In 2019, it was reported that Instagram would start removing the number of likes from a limited number of accounts

Billions of social media users woke up to a rude shock when they learned that Instagram was no longer allowing them to see the number of likes under their posts. A fresh wave of controversy swept through social networking platforms as people expressed their disappointment in the app’s new feature. One of the world’s most popular and loved photo-sharing app soon earned the ire of users, who are determined to “delete” it. 

However, Instagram issued a statement on Twitter confirming that the issue was temporary and was caused by a bug while testing a new experience. The statement also said that it would be restoring the like counts soon. The tweet read, “We've been testing a new experience to hide likes on feed posts. We unintentionally added more people to the test today, which was a bug — we’re fixing this issue and restoring like counts to those people as soon as possible.”

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How will changes impact the userbase? 

Instagram has been long-loved. Even though the app did make numerous changes previously, it continued to boast as many as 1 billion active users. According to Backlinko, the app witnessed 1 billion monthly active users globally and 500 million daily active users. It is ranked the 6th most popular social network after Facebook, YouTube and Whatsapp. 

When users learned about the new changes, many of them expressed that they were going to delete the app before Instagram clarified that it was a bug that caused it. However, the company has been working towards removing the option to view the number of likes for a long time.

In 2019, it was reported that they would start removing the number of likes from a limited number of accounts in Canada. The photo-sharing app said it wanted to reduce pressure on its users to rack up likes on the platform. 

‘Instagram, please fix yourself’

A bizarre message at the top of the app reportedly read, "Testing a Chance to How You See Likes - We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get. During this test, only you will be able to see the total number of likes on your posts." 

One frustrated Twitter user wrote, "Instagram please fix yourself.....cause I don’t know who is 'and others' I’ll like to see how much people like photos or imma delete this app." Another added, "this app ain’t fun anymore. so many fucking people are just going to delete it all together LMFAO. Instagram is basically sabotaging itself." A user who wasn't aware of the bug tweeted, "omg Instagram took the likes away?? might as well delete the whole app lol."

‘This is a powerful bug, keep it as is’

A few users jumped the gun on establishing that the likes count was gone forever from Instagram, but the rest couldn't stop laughing at the chaos a temporary bug caused. Not much is known about the bug but we do know that Instagram has been trying this feature since 2019.

Some social media users felt that the bug was a good addition to the app. One tweeted, "The moment y’all removed likes people felt invalidated. This is a powerful bug, keep it as is." Another tweeted, "Y’all losing y’all shit about them Instagram likes, lol they said it was a bug they fixing it." A user tweeted, "Some Twitter users were praising the bug, though. Maybe having the option to hide and “unhide” likes could be the way."