My impression is likes come from a unique set of users who feel compelled to interact. Most don’t interact. So you’re getting a reading from the most “opinionated” or likely to share emotion and all the others who also have valid input but who are less likely to engage are discounted.

Who wants feature X on our product? You get a few saying yeah I’d pay an extra hundred for that, and very few who say no. Meanwhile most people just don’t want it, but never said so and the new feature is a dud.

A few years back, I was trying to become a food influencer on Instagram because it seemed like a fun optimization problem.

You quickly learn there's a game. You go and find a bunch of other influencers roughly in your tier (getting some traffic but not rockstars) and you like their posts and follow them. They return the favor.

You comment (nicely) on their stuff, they return the favor. If you've ever played those obnoxious mobile games that want you to recruit your friends, same idea.

Likes and attention farming is basically a pyramid scheme with monopoly money.

Only if you can know that your audience is actually seeing your content.

People like cocaine, and illegal gambling, and money laundering, and pyramid schemes, and cryptocurrencies.

Just because people 'like' them, doesn't mean they aren't ultimately destructive for society, and worthy of Government regulation/banning.

If you don't want to gamble / crypto and do coke, then don't. Same for social media. I didn't ask for help from the nagging busybodies at the government. I am an adult, and I will manage my own affairs even if the government could do it better. And if they fucked off from wasting money on the war on drugs, then money laundering wouldn't even be a thing.

Also doesn’t mean they are.