Elon Musk has been in charge at Twitter, excuse me X.com for just under 2 years now and the billionaire just can’t help but step on toes. Whether it be by sacking thousands of employees, pushing for the biggest CEO bonus of all time, or by changing features that were working just fine, he’s certainly left his mark on the social media sphere. His latest adjustment has rankled users across the world, but it seems that Star Wars icon Mark Hamill has been personally burned by the “upgrade.”
The site has moved to hide likes on the platform, claiming that folks have the right to like posts, “without getting attacked for doing so!” The feature has been in place for X’s premium users for some time, but as of Wednesday, June 12, it has been implemented for users site-wide.
The update has been roundly mocked, with some users basking in the glory of being able to “like” controversial Tweets freely or lamenting how much more useless the comment sections will be moving forward.
Some users claim that the move is being made to protect a small number of people, specifically porn sites and X’s ample bot problem.
Mark Hamill, who has used Twitter to connect with his fans for years, jumped on the #BringBackLikes hashtag shortly after its inception. In no uncertain terms he derided the decision, “I WANT people to know it was me that liked their tweets. Now my only option is to reply & write the word “like”.”
Mark Hamill – who has been actively beefing with Musk for years – appealed to the tech genius and his board of directors directly, asking a question that has been on user’s minds for over a year now, “How can we get the powers-that-be to STOP ‘improving’ this site?”
True to his word, he’s spent the last few days liking every post he normally would, but instead of the quick tap of a button, he’s writing out “like” under every post. Since the button was disabled, he has thrown out hundreds of “likes” on posts. Just two days in, he says he is already exhausted.
At least he isn’t the only one championing #BringBackLikes. The trend has almost 20,000 supporters already. It’s a decent number, but some YouTube users have pointed to their own failed attempts to bring back dislikes to their platform as proof enough that Likes are a thing of the past.
One thing is certain, when it comes to Elon Musk, it doesn’t matter how loudly users gnash their teeth and beg for the “upgrades” to stop. At the end of the day, the business mogul only cares about himself and his legion of sycophant Neo-Nazi simps, all of whom are tired of losing their jobs over “simple likes.”
