What is the use of the <meta> tag in HTML?

The tag in HTML is used to provide metadata about the HTML document. Metadata is essentially data about data; it describes various aspects of the document, such as its character set, author, description, keywords, and viewport settings. This information can be utilized by browsers and search engines to better understand the content and context of the page.

For example, a tag might specify the character encoding to ensure that the browser displays the text correctly, or it might include a description of the page that search engines use in their results. This role is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO), as well as for proper rendering on different devices.

The other choices do not accurately represent the purpose of the tag. Creating a new HTML document is not the function of the tag, nor does it define styles or link to external JavaScript files. Instead, those tasks are handled by different tags like for stylesheets and