TikTok is conducting an experiment that would allow users not to see the “likes” that a video receives on the social network nor the comments that other users leave to it.
TikTok has not confirmed that the new “clear mode” will be released for all users
This is a test by which TikTok wants to know what the user experience would be when all those elements that could distract you are removed from your screen of what the content of the video is. The test is assuming that some users of the social network -selected randomly- see a completely clean user interface, without any dissuasive element.
The introduction of this new “clear mode”, as they call the test in the company owned by ByteDance, does not mean that it will be launched definitively for the more than 1,000 million users that the social network has around the world.
At the moment, it is just an experiment, a test, and even if the results are satisfactory, it is not guaranteed that this “distraction-free viewing experience” that TikTok is testing will be popularized.
The move may be partly reminiscent of tests Instagram conducted a couple of years ago to remove the number of “likes” on the social network. However, on that occasion the objective was not to relieve the screen of elements but to end what the company called “the tyranny of the like”which caused users to be obsessed with the number of “likes” that their publications and those of their friends and other people who used the social network obtained.
Finally, the possibility of hiding the likes on Instagram was launched as an optional feature, each user can choose whether to do so or not and for which publications.
Along with the disappearance of “likes” and comments, in the test carried out by TikTok, usernames, automatic subtitles and all information for people with hearing disabilities are also removed from the screens, in addition to all the hashtags.
To be able to access all this information when playing a video, simply press the screen for a few seconds to bring up the options menu with all the data that has been hidden.
