Vitalik Buterin proposes introducing confidential likes

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin supported the idea of ​​X developer Wang Haofei about confidential likes and proposed moving the initiative to the Farcaster social network.

He expanded on this proposal by allowing the use of zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to combat “preference falsification.”

Zero knowledge is a cryptography technique that allows one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing sensitive information. In the context of likes, this allows you to leave a reaction to a post without compromising your privacy.

Ethereum co-founder proposed to “borrow” ZK technology from Zupoll, a tool used in the “pop-up city” project Zuzalu. The solution is focused on decentralization and is used for anonymous voting.

Discussions about ZK likes began after rumors that X might start hiding user likes. Haofei confirmed this information.

Yeah, we are making likes private.

Public likes are encouraging the wrong behavior. For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be “edgy” in fear of retaliation from trolls, or to protect their public image.

Soon you'll be able to like without… https://t.co/vPGllc4pB0

— Haofei (@wanghaofei) May 22, 2024

Haofei suggested that users would soon be able to react to posts “without worrying about who might see it.” He also reminded users of the connections between likes and the social network’s content selection algorithms.

The proposal met with mixed reactions in the community. Some suggested developing the idea beyond likes. Others pointed out that user reactions help evaluate the quality of the post itself before reading it.

Earlier, Buterin called for the creation of a single interoperability solution for L2 networks.