This is the end of a major Web 2.0 era.
Meta announced Monday that it will be shutting down two key features on Facebook: external “likes” and commenting social plugins.
In a post on its developer site, Meta shared that the FB Like and FB Comment buttons will be officially discontinued on February 10, 2026.
According to Meta, developers will not have to do anything. Plugins will render as an invisible 0x0 pixel on the expiration date. Meta says that none of these changes should affect the functionality of any website.
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In the early days of social media, there were social plugins everywhereFacebook’s social plugins were first launched in 2016, Websites and blog posts across the web proudly display these social media buttons from major social platforms like Facebook, allowing users to log into their social media account of choice and like, share, and comment using that social profile, These social media buttons update frequently and display statistics showing how much content is shared or liked on a platform,
Facebook, being the largest and most popular social network of its time, usually had its social plugin buttons prominently displayed on websites large and small. Undoubtedly, this was very beneficial for Facebook. Not just because it reflects its prominence in the social media sphere, but also because the company was able to collect user data even from content on third-party platforms.
“This change reflects our commitment to maintaining a modern, efficient platform that meets the current needs of developers while enabling us to invest in future innovations,” Meta wrote in its post announcing the end of the external FB like and comment button feature. “The plugins that will be discontinued reflect an older era of web development, and their use has naturally declined as the digital landscape has evolved.”
The meta is not wrong. It is clear that the usage of these social plugins has decreased greatly. However, the reason these social plugins no longer seem so relevant is because of the different way people use the internet in 2025.
Content on apps is being discovered more than ever, and the likes and comments that occur now happen directly on Facebook. Social media itself has basically made external social plugins obsolete.