In what could be viewed as acknowledgment that likes are all but dead, Meta has announced that it's deprecating the Facebook Like and Facebook Comment buttons for websites, which enable Facebook interaction via third party platforms.
You know the ones, the ubiquitous Facebook interaction buttons that every website and blog added over time, providing another means to quickly and easily engage with content via Facebook, direct from the site itself, like the Facebook share icon at the top and bottom of this post.
Though you're probably more familiar with the older variation:
Many websites still also have Like and Comment options built in as well, but as of February next year, those will be no more, with Meta removing support for these options.
As explained by Meta:
“On February 10, the plugins will gracefully degrade by rendering as a 0x0 pixel (invisible element) rather than causing errors or breaking your website functionality. This change is intended to only remove the plugin content from your site, and should not otherwise impact your website's functionality.”
So no impact, and no change required from web managers, the buttons will simply stop working and disappear from view.
Meta says that it’s retiring these options because their usage “has naturally declined as the digital landscape has evolved.”
Which makes sense. These days, people don’t “Like” things at the same rate they once did, because algorithms now have a much better understanding of engagement behaviors, and can imply interest, without needing explicit signals.
TikTok changed the paradigm on this, taking the focus away from following and direct engagement, and instead showing you a never-ending stream of content that you’ll likely be interested in, based predominantly on what you actually watch in the app.
Since then, every social platform has followed suit, moving away from curated following feeds, and more towards algorithmic “For You” displays, so that they can show you a wider breadth of content based on your interests.
As such, you don’t need to “Like” things anymore, while the rate of people liking and commenting on posts that are then linked back to Facebook has also declined as Facebook has lost some of its relevance as a key social app.
I mean, billions of people are still using Facebook, don’t get me wrong, but the way they use the platform has changed, and in that context, external engagement fed back to your Facebook presence makes less sense.
Though it is a significant milestone, and a marker of this broader shift.
Meta says that the functions will stop rendering on websites after February 10, 2026. Web managers can choose to remove the plugin code for a cleaner user experience, or do nothing and see these options disappear.
