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Introduction
For years, the like was the currency of influence. Scroll a feed, see the number under a post, judge the creator. Then Instagram took the public counter away, leaving likes visible mainly to the creator. For influencer marketing that sounds like a problem, since the easiest yardstick disappeared. It is really the opposite. The brands that adapted are measuring better than ever.
Here is what changed and why, what it does to engagement rates, what it means for brands, plus the metrics worth watching now.
What changed and why
Instagram made the public like count optional, so it shows only to the person who posted unless they choose otherwise. Two reasons were given for the move.
The first was wellbeing. Visible counts fuel pressure and constant comparison, which research ties to real mental health effects, especially for younger users. The second was cleaning up the platform. When likes were public, buying them was an easy way to fake credibility, so removing the public number takes some of the air out of that market. Importantly, creators never lost the data, they still see their own likes inside their analytics.
The effect on metrics
The change does ripple into the numbers brands rely on, so it pays to understand the quirk.
What it means for brands
Strip away the public like and you are forced to measure influence properly, which is no bad thing.
Marketers can no longer use a glance at the like count as a proxy for impact, so the smart ones shifted to deeper signals: comments, shares, saves, click-throughs, reach and actual conversions. The change also pushes brands to ask creators for backend analytics directly, which builds the kind of transparency and trust that one-off deals never had. Most marketers welcomed it for that reason. It nudged the whole industry away from vanity metrics and toward the business outcomes that justify the spend in the first place.
How Flinque helps
If public likes are no longer your shortcut, you need a richer way to judge a creator, which is the gap a vetting tool fills.
Flinque is one option for it. Rather than leaning on a single visible number, it pulls together the signals that survive the change: an engagement benchmark built on real interaction, audience demographics and a fake follower check, across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X. That gives you a read on influence quality that a like count never could, hidden or not. It draws on 10M+ verified creators across 25+ countries, free to begin and then 49 dollars a month. With likes off the table, judge creators on the data that truly predicts results.
Public likes are gone. Measure what really matters.
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Try Flinque free →Common questions
Why did Instagram hide likes?+
For two stated reasons. The first was wellbeing: visible like counts fuel pressure and comparison, which research links to mental health harm, especially among younger users. The second was cleaning up engagement: public like counts made buying likes an easy way to fake credibility, so hiding them blunts that incentive. Instagram rolled the change out as an option after long testing. Crucially, creators can still see their own like counts in their analytics.
Does hiding likes lower an influencer's engagement rate?+
It can, at least as third-party tools measure it. When a creator hides likes, those counts are restricted through the API, so some platforms calculate engagement from comments alone, which makes the rate look lower than it really is. Good tools flag this with a banner or badge so you do not misread it. Notably, many influencers avoid hiding likes on sponsored posts precisely because they know brands rely on that number.
How does hiding likes affect influencer marketing?+
It forces a healthier kind of measurement. Marketers can no longer glance at a public like count as a shortcut for impact, so they shift to richer signals: comments, shares, saves, click-throughs, reach and conversions. It also pushes brands to ask creators for backend analytics directly, which builds transparency and trust. Most marketers see this as a positive, since it moves the industry away from vanity metrics toward actual business outcomes.
What metrics should brands use instead of likes?+
The ones closer to intent and action. Saves and shares show content worth keeping or passing on, comments show genuine conversation, while click-throughs plus conversions show real business impact. Reach and audience quality matter too, since a smaller, engaged, well-matched audience usually beats a large passive one. The throughline is simple: weigh signals that predict behavior, not the most passive metric on the platform.
Can brands still see an influencer's likes?+
Often, yes, just not at a public glance. Creators always see their own like counts in analytics and can share that backend data with a brand through screenshots or by granting access to partner tools. For paid partnerships, that visibility usually continues. The practical move is to build long-term relationships with creators who will share honest metrics, rather than relying on whatever is publicly displayed on a post.
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