In 2026, Meta will terminate two longstanding social features from Facebook designed for external sites. The Like and Share buttons intended for integration on third-party platforms are scheduled to shut down on February 10. According to a recent Meta announcement, website operators do not need to perform any maintenance in response, though they have the option to eliminate the buttons ahead of time. Plugins left in place after the cutoff will simply vanish by turning into undetectable zero-by-zero pixel elements, a process described as 'graceful degradation' despite its understated effect.
This decision signals the close of a significant chapter for Meta's Facebook ecosystem. The external Like and Share functionalities debuted in 2010, positioned as mechanisms to boost website visits via social media interactions when sharing content online was predominantly handled through Facebook. Meta states that these tools belong to a bygone phase of online creation, with their adoption diminishing alongside shifts in the internet environment. Furthermore, Facebook now constitutes a lesser portion of Meta's overall enterprise compared to its past prominence, and observations suggest fewer websites depend solely on connections to one social platform.