Meta has turned over control of React, React Native, and associated projects like JSX to the newly formed React Foundation, fulfilling a commitment made last October.
Matt Carroll, a developer advocate on Meta's React team, explained that the React Foundation is an independent foundation hosted by the Linux Foundation. Its founding members include Amazon, Callstack, Expo, Huawei (added since the original October announcement), Meta, Microsoft, Software Mansion, and Vercel.
"React has become critical digital infrastructure for the modern web and beyond," said Seth Webster, executive director of the React Foundation, in a statement. "By establishing the React Foundation under the Linux Foundation, we are ensuring a strong, vibrant React for decades to come – guided by open governance and shared stewardship from the global community that builds with it every day."
React is presently the most popular front-end JavaScript framework. It was used by 85 percent of developers surveyed in the 2025 State of JavaScript report. It also has its share of detractors, who object to its complexity and performance, among other things.
For a lengthy, thorough thrashing of React, see Microsoft Edge partner product architect Alex Russell's "If Not React, Then What?", which he summarizes thus: "In short, nobody should start a new project in the 2020s based on React. Full stop."
Meta's stewardship of open source software projects has tended to be fraught, as the social ad company isn't well-loved in the open source community. In 2022, Meta undertook a similar corporate distancing exercise by moving PyTorch, a deep learning framework developed at Facebook, over to the Linux Foundation. (The company changed its name in 2021.)
Back in 2017, Meta had to change the React software license to the MIT license because open source organizations like the Apache Software Foundation would not accept the project's BSD + Patents software license.
Large technology companies tend to be wary of relying on open source software controlled exclusively by current or potential rivals. Oracle's history with Java is instructive here. Kubernetes never would have become the dominant container orchestration platform if Google hadn't surrendered the software to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation in 2015. By stepping back from the direct management of React, Meta offers some reassurance that React and related projects will be steered with an even hand.
"The React Foundation is the right structure for what React has become: a technology that belongs to the community," said Krzysztof Magiera, director of engineering and co-founder of Software Mansion, in a statement. "We're proud to be founding members, and glad to see our commitment reflected in something built to last." ®
Source: The register