There’s a more sinister reason for social networking sites removing like/dislike counts, and in some cases view counters: with these metrics inaccessible, it’s far easier to completely fabricate trends, popularity, and favorability. Want to push a video or narrative? Just put it on the front page and say it’s getting tons of views, as there’s no way prove otherwise. Want to portray something as unpopular? Just say it has 80% dislikes; doesn’t matter if everyone and their mother openly supports it, clearly there’s 80% of people elsewhere that don’t.