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Instagram should allow users to simply set the number of likes to whatever they want to have displayed, and let it increment from there.

If Instagram is letting people turn the feature off, then it's likely that they don't actually need "likes" for their data-collection purposes.

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>they don't actually need "likes" for their data-collection purposes.

Is that what's happening? My understanding is that you can hide the displaying of the likes, but still allow people to like them. In that case, the metrics are still being collected.

They still allow users to like. However, you might be right that they don't really need it. They have engagement metrics based on your scrolling behavior.

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