SPAM likes: It’s nothing more than a “Hey, read my cr*p!”, from someone who hasn’t looked at your post, and is indiscriminately clicking ‘Like’ buttons in the ‘Reader’ – or using an auto routine.
Planet Botch
In WordPress we cannot actually stop spammers from ‘liking’ our posts. Even were we to turn off the ‘likes button’ facility in our admin dashboard, the WordPress Reader over rides it thus spammers or spam bots can run down a whole list of posts, clicking the ‘star’ and liking i.e. linking to their sites to their hearts content – and to our great displeasure. Not only does this annoy it also makes our sites look spammy and can have consequences for SEO.
And then there are the ‘likes’ that spammers can add to the comments section:
“Encourage your community by giving readers the ability to show appreciation for one another’s comments”.
Thus saith WordPress. That’s all very well, but spammers do the same, leaving their unwelcome footprints, multiple times, all over our visitor’s comments.
So I’ve closed that loophole by turning off ‘comment likes’ in my posts:
Go to Dashboard Tools/Marketing/Sharing Buttons tab (top of page)- you can untick the ‘Comment Likes’ on for all posts and SAVE the Changes!
It’s worth it for those us who take the time to read and give feedback without having our efforts defaced by a spam ‘liker’. Besides, if we genuinely admire/agree with someone’s comment, we can reply to it, even if it’s only with a smiley.
BUT… The litmus test though will be if a comment on one of my posts can still be liked in the Reader (let me know if it can). After all, under the Notifications bell, I can still like a comment!
Consideration: What is the point of giving us dashboard controls if the Reader countermands them? Is it, as this article suggests, that WordPress Loves Spam?
PoetryPix 
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