NEW YORK (AP) — Visa and Mastercard are dropping out of Facebook's Libra project, a potentially fatal blow to the social network's plan for a worldwide digital currency.

Along with the two payment giants, several other large companies have announced their departures from Libra. Payment processing company Stripe said it was stepping back, as well as online auction company eBay.

PayPal was the first of Libra's big partners to exit, announcing last week it would no longer be involved.

Facebook faced substantial criticism about its plans to create a separate, private currency system to allow cross-border payments. Politicians on both sides of the spectrum questioned the privacy issues raised with Facebook controlling a currency, as well as concerns about money laundering.