The end of an important Web 2.0 era has come.

On Monday, Meta announced it will be discontinuing two once-prominent Facebook features: the external “Like” and “Comment” social plugins.

In a message on its developer site, Meta declared that the FB Like and FB Comment buttons will officially be retired on February 10, 2026.

Meta indicated that developers are not required to take any steps. The plugins will simply transform into an unseen 0x0 pixel on that date. Meta assures that these adjustments will not impact any website’s performance.

In the early days of social media, social plugins were widespread. Facebook’s social plugins launched in 2016. Numerous websites and blog entries across the web prominently displayed these social media buttons from well-known platforms like Facebook, allowing users to log into their chosen social media account and like, share, and comment via that profile. These buttons frequently updated to reflect statistics on the amount of content shared or liked on a platform.

Facebook, recognized as the largest and most favored social network of its time, usually had its social plugin buttons prominently placed on both large and small sites. This benefited Facebook, not only because it underscored its superiority in the social media space but also because it allowed the company to gather user data from external content.

“This change underscores our commitment to sustaining a contemporary, efficient platform that addresses developers’ current requirements while allowing us to focus on future innovations,” Meta mentioned in its announcement regarding the discontinuation of the external FB Like and Comment buttons. “The plugins being sunsetted signify a previous era of web development, and their usage has naturally diminished as the digital environment has progressed.”

Meta is right. The utilization of these social plugins has markedly diminished. However, the reason these plugins appear less relevant is due to the various ways individuals engage with the internet in 2025.

Content exploration happens more on apps than ever before, and likes and comments now occur directly on Facebook. Social media itself has made external social plugins effectively unnecessary.