Searching the solutions about getting the reactions and the like count system compatible got me here.
Also found Support multiple-reactions per post (Retort style)
Counting likes makes sense to me because it’s another dimension of community interactions which is valuable. It can be used to measure the motivation of community participation.
I agreed that the mandatory of likes count in TL system is not ideal enough. But if the user will get score from community activities to level up, I think the like count is a part of those.