For months now, Instagram users have been complaining that their posts no longer get the number of “likes” that they used to. Photos and videos that would once easily get hundreds of hearts now only get a few dozen. The change has some content creators nervous and looking for answers.
It may have something to do with changes in both human behavior and the algorithm.
Why aren’t Instagram posts getting likes anymore?
In 2025, posts started popping up across social media about the steady decline in likes that they can expect an Instagram post to attract. This was especially true among those who’d left Instagram for a while, in favor of platforms like TikTok, and went back months or years later.
People are calling it a “like recession.”
“Instagram is dead nobody can tell me otherwise,” wrote @kimberlywhiteee in a TikTok caption. “You post a pic, and it shows over 1,000 views with only 34 likes? Be so real with me right now. What kind of hater vibes sorcery is going on over there?”
Meanwhile, @hiiibarbiee compared her single photo post likes from a year ago vs. today, showing how they’ve declined by the hundreds. It has the 21-year-old asking “chat am i UNC?”
@hiiibarbiee chat am i UNC? #instalikes #fyp ♬ original sound – harem_dude91
Some long-time social media users explained this by pointing to shifts in the way people use these apps. People just aren’t liking the way they used to.
“We deada** see our loved ones get married and buy a house and look at their Instagram post like this,” said @tjr with a blank, bored face, “and proceed to not like, not comment, and scroll.”
TikToker @sweetiebrownieee theorized that users today are more likely to be snooping than supporting.
“So you posted a picture on Instagram. No likes,” she started. “But your stories? So many views. They’re watching you, honey. They’re seeing you, but they do not want you to know they are seeing you.”
“People these days are so nosy.”
How to succeed on Instagram without the likes
Shifts in user behavior are real, but experts also spoke on the changes to Instagram’s algorithm. In July 2024, Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained that one of the platform’s top ranking signals was “shares per reach,” meaning how many viewers shared a video regardless of how else they interacted with it.
“So out of all the people who saw your video or photo, how many of them sent it to a friend in a DM?” he said. “We want to not only be a place where you passively consume content, but where you discover things you want to tell your friends about.”
With the emphasis shifting away from likes as Instagram also began showing users less content from those they followed and more from accounts the app thinks they’d enjoy, posts that quickly get a few likes from dedicated fans aren’t getting the same boost.
Social media manager Milou Pietersz (@miloupietersz) discussed what this means for creators who still want to make it on Instagram.
“We’ve officially entered a ‘like’ recession on Instagram,” she wrote. “100 likes is the new 1000, and if you are still measuring success by old metrics, it will always feel like you are losing.”
“Stop chasing the number that looks good on the outside and start paying attention to the signals that actually move your business forward.”
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