Elon Musk may remove likes, reposts from X platform

The Chief Executive Officer of X, Elon Musk, has said that he may remove likes and reposts from the X platform.

He disclosed this during his appearance at the Morgan Stanley technology, media, and telecom conference on Wednesday.

Musk revealed that his social media platform X is contemplating the removal of visible engagement metrics such as likes and reposts from posts.

As reported by Dailymail Online on Thursday, Musk added that X is also on track to secure approval for a money transmitter license in New York within the next few months.

Musk cited concerns about content clutter as a reason for considering the removal of likes and reposts while also noting the addition of view counts to each post since assuming control of the company.

X, formerly known as Twitter, aims to incorporate financial features into its platform, including the ability to facilitate payments between users. Securing licenses in various U.S. states is integral to realizing these features.

The issue of engagement metrics such as likes and reposts has been a source of contention for Musk since he acquired the company. Reports indicate that Musk exerted pressure on engineers to adjust algorithms to amplify the visibility of his posts, particularly following instances where his posts garnered less engagement than others, such as President Joe Biden’s tweet during the Super Bowl.

In response to concerns over privacy and user rights, Musk announced intentions to collect biometric data from users, including fingerprints, retinal scans, and voice and face recognition. However, plans to eliminate users’ ability to block others, which elicited widespread apprehension among X’s user base, did not come to fruition.