Meta announced that it will discontinue two long-standing Facebook Social Plugins, the Facebook Like button and the Facebook Comment button, on February 10, 2026.
The plugins currently allow users to like external website content and post Facebook comments directly on third-party sites.
According to Meta, the decision reflects declining usage and a broader shift away from legacy web integrations that no longer align with modern development patterns.
The company said the tools represent an earlier era of the web and that resources will be redirected toward newer platform capabilities.
On the discontinuation date, the plugins will not trigger errors or break site functionality.
Instead, they will render 0x0-pixel elements as invisible, effectively removing the embedded social features without disrupting page layout or performance.
Meta said the change is not considered a breaking update and does not require developer action.
Sites using the plugins may optionally remove the associated code for cleanliness, but this is not mandatory. Support documentation and FAQs will remain available through Meta’s developer channels.
Why This Matters Today
For years, Facebook’s Like and Comment plugins were central to how publishers distributed content and encouraged engagement beyond Facebook’s own platform.
Their removal signals how much the web’s social layer has changed.
Today, engagement is increasingly concentrated within native apps and feeds rather than embedded widgets. As a result, plugins that once drove referral traffic and discussion have lost relevance. Meta’s move formalizes that shift and closes the door on a model of social distribution that defined the 2010s.
For developers and publishers, the practical impact is limited.
The plugins will quietly disappear without breaking sites, avoiding the disruption typically associated with platform deprecations. However, their removal may prompt teams to reassess how social interaction is handled on owned properties.
Strategically, the change underscores Meta’s focus on newer surfaces, including messaging, creators, and AI-driven products, rather than maintaining legacy tools with low usage.
It also reflects a broader trend across platforms toward simplifying APIs and retiring features that no longer justify ongoing maintenance.
Our Key Takeaways:
Meta is retiring two of Facebook’s oldest web plugins as part of a broader platform evolution. The change is designed to be non-disruptive and requires no immediate developer action. Embedded social interactions on external sites will quietly fade away.
The update reflects shifting engagement patterns across the web.
- Meta will discontinue the Facebook Like and Comment plugins on February 10, 2026.
- The plugins will become invisible rather than breaking site functionality.
- Developers are not required to take action, but may remove the code if desired.
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