X (formerly Twitter) has restricted the Likes tab on many accounts, so you often cannot see a full public list of likes anymore, yours or anyone else's. This is a platform-level privacy change, not a bug on your end. Some likes still show under notifications or engagement details, but there is no universal fix to restore the old public tab.
Why Likes on X Aren't Showing Up
If you have gone looking for the Likes tab on X (formerly Twitter) and found it missing or empty, you are not imagining it. This is not a glitch on your phone or a temporary outage.
X has been rolling out changes that limit who can see a public list of what an account has liked. For some users the tab has disappeared entirely. For others it shows up but the list is incomplete or restricted to certain viewers.
I get asked about this a lot, so I want to explain plainly what has changed, why it happened, and what you can still do to check your own likes or find something you liked in the past.
The Platform Change Behind This
Elon Musk has spoken publicly about wanting to make likes private, partly because people were holding back from liking content they agreed with out of fear of judgement or backlash. The idea was that private likes would encourage more honest engagement.
As a result, X has been testing and gradually applying restrictions so that likes are not visible to just anyone browsing a profile. This is a deliberate privacy decision by the platform, not something broken that needs fixing.
It has not rolled out identically to every account. Some users still see a public Likes tab, others do not. This inconsistency is part of why so many people are confused and searching for answers.
Can You Still See Your Own Likes on X?
Yes, in most cases you can still see content you have liked, even if the public-facing tab has changed for other viewers.
- Open your profile and check if a Likes tab still appears alongside Posts, Replies and Media.
- If it is missing, try viewing your profile in the X app rather than a browser, or vice versa, since visibility can differ between platforms.
- Scroll your own notifications, since posts you have recently liked sometimes appear there if someone interacted with your like.
- Use the search bar with your own username plus relevant keywords to try to locate a specific liked post.
If none of these work, it is worth accepting that the tab may simply be restricted on your account for now, and there is no setting you can toggle to bring it back yourself.
Can You See Someone Else's Likes?
This is where most of the frustration comes from. People want to check what a specific account has liked, whether for research, curiosity, or monitoring purposes.
On many accounts this is now simply not possible. If the Likes tab has been removed from a profile, there is no workaround, browser trick, or third party tool that will reliably show you a full, current list of another person's likes.
Be cautious of websites or extensions claiming to reveal hidden Twitter likes. Some are unreliable, some are outdated and show old cached data, and some are risky from a privacy and security standpoint. I would not recommend relying on any of them.
What This Means If You Run a Business Account
If you use X for marketing or client work, this change affects how you monitor engagement, particularly if you were using likes as a signal for tracking competitor activity or influencer engagement.
You cannot depend on the Likes tab as a research tool the way you might have in the past. Instead, shift attention to the engagement metrics that are still visible and consistent, such as reply counts, repost counts, and the analytics available to you on your own posts.
If you manage social media for clients, it is worth setting expectations early. Explain that likes visibility has changed platform-wide and is outside anyone's control, so reporting should lean on metrics that remain trackable.
What You Can Still Track Reliably
Even with likes visibility reduced, there is still useful data available to you directly through X.
Your own post analytics, accessible through the analytics view on individual posts, still show impressions, engagements, and other detail even when public like counts elsewhere are limited.
Replies and reposts remain visible in most cases, so these are more dependable indicators of how a post has performed if you are trying to gauge reach or reaction.
If you are tracking competitors, focus on what they post, how often, and how people are replying, rather than trying to chase like counts that may no longer be fully visible.
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What To Do If You Think Something Is Wrong
Sometimes what looks like a Likes tab problem is a separate issue, such as an app that needs updating or a temporary loading fault.
Before assuming it is the platform-wide privacy change, try logging out and back in, updating the app to the latest version, or checking the same profile from a different device.
If the tab is missing consistently across devices and after updates, it is almost certainly the broader X change rather than a fault specific to your account, and there is nothing further to troubleshoot on your end.
The Bottom Line
Likes on X are becoming less public, and this is an intentional shift by the platform rather than something users can reverse or fix themselves.
If your Likes tab has vanished or someone else's has, accept that this is the current state of the platform. There is no reliable trick to restore full visibility, and I would be cautious of anything claiming otherwise.
Focus your attention on the metrics that remain visible and consistent, and adjust how you monitor engagement accordingly.
Related reading: not getting x notifications.
Related reading: instagram not showing posts to followers.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I see my Twitter likes anymore?
X has restricted the public Likes tab on many accounts as part of a deliberate privacy change. It is not a bug or an issue with your specific account, it is a platform-wide adjustment that has rolled out inconsistently.
Is there a way to see someone else's hidden likes?
No reliable way exists. If the Likes tab has been removed from a profile, there is no trick or tool that will consistently show you their full, current likes list.
Will the old Likes tab come back?
There is no way to know for certain. X has not confirmed a full return to public likes for everyone, so it is best to plan around the current limited visibility rather than wait for it to change back.
What should I track instead of likes for engagement?
Rely on reply counts, repost counts, and your own post analytics, which remain visible and give a clearer picture of engagement than likes currently do.
More X and Twitter fixes: the X help guide.
