In a bid to protect users from envy and persuade them against self-censorship, facebook is set to start hiding the like counter (which displays the number of people who have liked a post on facebook with respect to time).

The move is no new thing to facebook “the company” (the parent company that owns Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram) as Instagram is already testing this in 7 different countries ( 2 of which are Canada and Brazil). The move sees them (Facebook) Showing a post’s audience just a few names of mutual friends who have Liked it (the content/post) instead of the total number of likes. The idea is believed to prevent users from negatively comparing themselves to others as well as the feeling of being unpopular (compared to others). It (The move) could also stop users from deleting posts they think aren’t getting enough Likes or not sharing in the first place (with the mindset of “what’s the point of sharing it if it’s not gonna generate as much impression as this person’s own”).

Facebook’s reverse engineering master Jane Manchun Wong pointed at that prototyping the hidden Like counts for Instagram in Facebook’s Android app. When quizzed, Facebook “the company” confirmed to tech giants “TechCrunch” that “it’s considering testing removal of Like counts”.

However, it’s not available live for users yet. Facebook has also declined to requests to share results from the Instagram Like hiding tests, its exact motives, or any schedule for starting testing. If it does decide to go ahead with a test, Facebook would likely do so gradually and pull back if it significantly hurts usage or ad revenue.

Hiding the like count on Facebook seems like a smart innovation from the Mark owned company as social media and mental health have become conjugal twins. However, a vast majority of people are still unconvinced about the move as they view it as a totally needless move from Facebook. Where do you stand on Facebook’s latest move? Let us know your take on it in the comments.