Facebook‘s News Feed algorithm has long been the focus of arguments around some of Meta’s most serious issues. It has also been the basis of several customer complaints. However, if a recently filed case is successful, Facebook users may be able to access the social network with a very different feed. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is suing Meta on behalf of a researcher who wants to create a browser plugin that will allow individuals to “effectively turn off” their algorithmic feeds.
The extension was created by Ethan Zuckerman, a researcher and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He argues that Facebook users would be better off with more control over their feeds. “The tool, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, would allow users to unfollow their friends, groups, and pages, and, in doing so, to effectively turn off their newsfeed—the endless scroll of posts that users see when they log into Facebook,” the lawsuit explains. “Users who download the tool would be free to use the platform without the feed, or to curate the feed by refollowing only those friends and groups whose posts they really want to see.” (Meta officially renamed the News Feed to “Feed” in 2022.)
Zuckerman is not the first to devise a tool of this kind. A related initiative from 2021 named “Unfollow Everything” served as his inspiration. The individual from the UK who made the extension was sued by Facebook, and his account was permanently blocked. By suing, Zuckerman hopes to save himself from a similar outcome. The action requests that the court “recognize that Section 230 protects the development of tools designed to empower people to better control their social media experiences.” It was filed on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco.
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, often known as the statute that exempts web platforms from responsibility for user-generated content, may be put to the test in this particular instance. However, Zuckerman’s appeal “relies on a separate provision protecting the developers of third-party tools that allow people to curate what they see online, including by blocking content they consider objectionable,” in contrast to other recent Supreme Court decisions utilizing the legislation.
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment on the lawsuit. The company has a history of heavy-handed tactics when it comes to independent researchers. In addition to shutting down the earlier version “Unfollow Everything,” the company disabled the Facebook accounts of a group of NYU researchers attempting to study political ad targeting in 2021. Those types of tactics have led to some researchers pursuing “data donation” programs, which recruit volunteers to “donate” their own browsing data for academic studies.
If released, Zuckerman’s browser extension would also have a data donation component, allowing users to opt-in to sharing “anonymized data about their Facebook usage.” The data would then be used for research into the effects of Facebook’s feed algorithm.
