When "Likers'' Go Private: Engagement with Reputationally Risky Content on X
3 months ago
- #privacy
- #user behavior
- #social media
- X/Twitter changed likes' visibility from public to private in June 2024.
- Study investigates if hiding liker identities increases likes for high-reputational-risk content.
- Two studies conducted: Difference-in-Differences analysis and a survey experiment.
- No detectable platform-level increase in likes for high-reputational-risk content found.
- Survey participants report modest increases in willingness to like risky content under private visibility.
- Results suggest hiding likes produces limited behavioral response at the platform level.
- Gap between user intention and behavior or engagement by high-usage/automated accounts may explain findings.