The familiar Facebook “Like” button you often see embedded on websites is going away. Meta announced in August 2023 that it will discontinue both its external “Like” and “Comment” buttons by February 10, 2026. While the sunsetting of these plugins won’t technically break any existing website functionality, it marks a significant shift in how social media interacts with the wider web.
These buttons were ubiquitous during the rise of Web 2.0. Introduced in 2016, they allowed users to directly engage with Facebook content from other platforms – liking blog posts, commenting on articles, or sharing them with their network – all without leaving their current page. This not only boosted engagement for websites displaying the buttons but also gave Facebook a powerful tool to collect user data even outside its own domain.
A Relic of a Different Era
Meta acknowledges that these plugins are becoming increasingly outdated. The company states this decision reflects “an earlier era of web development” and recognizes the decline in their usage as internet habits have evolved. It’s true that social media’s role has significantly shifted. People now predominantly discover content through apps like TikTok, Instagram, and even YouTube rather than traditional websites.
The very nature of “likes” and “comments” has changed too. Instead of adding interactivity to external websites, users now interact directly on the platforms where they consume their content, leaving comments and reactions within Facebook itself. Essentially, social media has rendered these external buttons unnecessary.
Facebook’s move also underscores how social media companies are increasingly prioritizing their own walled gardens, focusing user attention and engagement within their own apps rather than extending their influence to third-party sites.
This isn’t simply nostalgia for a bygone era; it reflects the fundamental ways digital interaction is transforming. The rise of mobile-first experiences, algorithmic feeds, and app-based ecosystems have largely diminished the need for these interweaving social mechanics that once characterized the early internet landscape.
