Summary: Facebook is retiring its Like and Comment buttons on external websites starting February 10, 2024. These features, once part of Facebook’s Open Graph initiative to make the web more social, have seen declining use and raised privacy concerns over the years. While these plugins will quietly disappear, the Facebook Share button will remain available for users who want to share content on the platform.
A Farewell to Facebook’s Like and Comment Buttons on External Sites
When was the last time you clicked the Like button on a website outside of Facebook, letting your friends see your endorsement in their news feed? Or when did you last comment on an article or post using a Facebook comment button embedded on an external site? If you’re struggling to remember, you’re not alone — these buttons have become increasingly rare and are now set to disappear entirely.
Meta recently announced that starting February 10, 2024, the Like and Comment buttons on external websites will be retired. This move marks the end of an era for features that once aimed to bring Facebook’s social experience to the broader web.
The Rise and Fall of Facebook’s Open Graph
Back in 2010, after the Like button’s massive success, Facebook launched the Open Graph — a suite of tools designed to embed Facebook’s social functions into other websites. The idea was to create a win-win-win situation: websites would get more traffic, users would enjoy a richer social experience, and Facebook would collect valuable data.
Looking back at coverage from that time, like Dan Fletcher’s article in Time, it’s clear that Facebook’s goal was to make the web more social while encouraging users to share more information than ever before. Fletcher wrote, “Each time you indicate that you like something, that information is fed back to Facebook and then to the website you’re on. If enough of your friends like the same restaurant on Yelp, you’ll see that on Yelp and when you log in to Facebook.”
However, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and growing privacy concerns have since cast a shadow over these data-sharing practices, making many question the wisdom of such pervasive tracking.
Why Meta Is Retiring These Plugins
In a recent blog post, Meta explained that these social plugins represent “an earlier era of web development,” and their usage has naturally declined as the digital landscape has evolved. Rather than abruptly breaking websites that still use these buttons, Meta will render them as invisible elements (0x0 pixels), ensuring no errors or disruptions occur.
What This Means for Website Owners and Users
Website developers don’t need to take any action to remove the Like and Comment buttons; they will simply stop appearing after the cutoff date. For users, this means fewer opportunities to interact with content via Facebook’s social plugins outside the platform itself.
The Share Button Isn’t Going Anywhere
Not all Facebook social plugins are going away. For example, the “Share this story” button you might find at the bottom of articles — featuring the familiar Facebook “F” icon — will remain available. We’ve reached out to Meta for confirmation, but as of now, this sharing feature appears to be here to stay. Feel free to click it and share your favorite stories as usual!