Meta Faces Legal Challenge Over User Control of News Feeds
A lawsuit filed against Meta, Facebook’s parent company, raises a key question: do users have the right to control their feeds using external tools? The case centers around a professor’s attempt to create a browser extension that lets users unfollow everything and essentially clear their news feed.
Professor Develops “Unfollow Everything 2.0”
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is backing the lawsuit on behalf of Ethan Zuckerman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Professor Zuckerman developed a tool called “Unfollow Everything 2.0,” a browser extension that would allow users to unfollow all friends, groups, pages, and completely empty their news feed.
The idea behind the tool is that by removing the constant stream of content, users might spend less time on Facebook. However, Meta might not be enthusiastic about this prospect.
Lawsuit Hinges on Section 230 of Communications Decency Act
The lawsuit hinges on a specific provision within Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. This law generally protects internet companies from liability for content posted by users. However, a separate clause grants immunity to developers who create tools to filter content considered “obscene, lewd, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.”
The lawsuit argues that Facebook’s news feed might fall under this category of “objectionable material.” The court will decide if users have the right to filter it out using external tools like Professor Zuckerman’s browser extension.
