Facebook is shutting down the external 'Like' button

"Meta announced on Monday that it would be sunsetting two once-major features on Facebook: The external "Like" and Comment" social plugins. In a post on its developer site, Meta shared that the FB Like and FB Comment buttons will officially be discontinued on February 10, 2026. According to Meta, developers won't have to do anything. The plugins will simply render as an invisible 0x0 pixel at the end date. Meta says none of these changes should impact any website's functionality."

"In the early days of social media, social plugins were everywhere. Facebook's social plugins first launched in 2016. Websites and blog posts across the web proudly displayed these social media buttons from the 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 would often update, displaying stats that showed just how much that piece of content was shared or liked on a platform."

""This change reflects our commitment to maintaining a modern, efficient platform that serves developers' current needs while enabling us to invest in future innovations," Meta wrote in its post announcing the end of the external FB Like and Comment buttons feature. "The plugins that will be discontinued reflect an earlier era of web development, and their usage has naturally declined as the digital landscape has evolved.""

Meta will sunset Facebook's external Like and Comment social plugins on February 10, 2026. The plugins will render as an invisible 0x0 pixel after that date and developers do not need to take action; Meta says site functionality should be unaffected. Social plugins first launched in 2016 and were widely embedded across websites and blogs to allow users to log in, like, share, and comment using social profiles while displaying share and like counts. Widespread use of those buttons gave Facebook prominence and enabled data collection from third-party sites. Usage of external social plugins has declined as the digital landscape evolved, prompting their removal.

Read at Mashable