Elon Musk ponders removing likes and repost counts on X

Elon Musk, the visionary behind the social media platform X, said Wednesday that the company is actively considering eliminating likes and repost counts on posts.

The announcement was made during his participation in the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference.

According to the billionaire, the move aims at enhancing the user experience of the social media platform.

This strategic decision aligns with Musk’s vision for X, which extends beyond conventional social media functions to encompass a comprehensive ‘everything app,’ incorporating messaging, banking, and shopping.

During the conference, Elon Musk also provided insight into X’s future plans, indicating that the platform is on the verge of obtaining a money transmitter license in New York, with anticipated approval in the coming months.

The regulatory milestone is a crucial step in X’s journey towards integrating financial features, including the ability for users to make payments to one another.

Engagement metrics like ‘likes’ and ‘reposts,’ previously referred to as ‘retweets,’ have been a source of contention since Musk acquired the platform. Last year, reports circulated that Elon Musk urged engineers to tweak algorithms to enhance the visibility of his posts, a move prompted by the perceived competition with President Joe Biden’s Super Bowl tweet.

Musk’s announcement comes at a time when X, formerly known as Twitter, celebrates a legal victory. The platform emerged triumphant in a $250 million copyright lawsuit filed by 17 music publishers, alleging copyright infringement for nearly 1,700 songs. A US District Judge in Nashville, Tennessee, Aleta Trauger, largely dismissed the claims, stating that the publishers could not pursue a theory of “comprehensive general liability for infringement” against X.