The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued Meta Platforms after an Amherst professor sought to launch an algorithm-cleaner tool.
The tool, Unfollow Everything 2.0, aims to allow Facebook users to unfollow and unsubscribe to all the content brought by the platform's algorithm.
Unfollow Everything 2.0 Challenges Meta Algorithm
The idea of Unfollow Everything 2.0 is to provide a browser extension that will empty a Facebook newsfeed. Social media platforms are known for using algorithms to keep their users from scrolling endlessly for hours.
According to Ethan Zuckerman, an Amherst professor at the University of Massachusetts, Facebook would be less addicting if the streamlining of content is cut. However, Meta would probably prefer something other than this type of tool.
Zuckerman filed a lawsuit against the media giant to prevent getting sued first by the company over the browser extension.
"The reason it's worth challenging Facebook on this is that right now we have very little control as users over how we use these networks," he explained.
Communications Decency Act 230 Protects Software Developers
The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, used the provision of Section 230 from the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
A specific clause indicates that software developers are allowed to create tools that "filter, screen, allow, or disallow content that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable."
Zuckerman seeks the court's judgment on whether Facebook users could be allowed to use tools that would help them filter out content for a simpler experience.
The professor also shared his plans to study the effects of disabling news feeds on the overall Facebook experience. Interested participants must consent to take part in the study and using the browser extension does not automatically sign them in.
Meta refused to comment on the lawsuit. The social media platform only allows users to manually unfollow friends, groups, and businesses.
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