After more than a year of testing hiding like counts in a bid to depressurize the app experience, Instagram has left the choice in the user’s hands. People now have the option to hide like and view counts in their Feeds and on their posts. The update applies to Facebook as well. 

Initial feedback on removing like counts from test marketings was positive, according to the company. But the issue later became more polarizing, with critics such as Nicki Minaj and other influencers who felt they’d lost a form of social currency weighing in. 

“People felt really strongly about it,” said Instagram head Adam Mosseri in a video posted on Twitter. “Some people were really into it and some people were really frustrated. So given that, we thought the best path forward was to give people a choice.”   

In a recent interview with The Information, Mosseri revealed that without like counts, some people shared more, while for others the absence of like counts led to slight drops in engagement.