Us Professor, Who Created A Facebook Extension For Mass Unfollowing, Sues Meta

A US-based professor, Ethan Zuckerman, has filed a lawsuit against Meta, to seek permission to release a browser extension for Facebook that gives people greater control over their feed. The extension, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, would allow users to unfollow their friends, groups, and pages, and effectively turn off the endless scroll. If a user downloads this extension, they would be free to use the platform without the feed, or to curate the feed by re-following only those friends and groups whose posts they really want to see. Zuckerman plans to use the extension to conduct academic research of how turning off the newsfeed affects users’ Facebook experience. The study is opt in and users would be allowed to use the extension without enrolling for the study.

Zuckerman’s lawsuit points out that social media companies collect large amounts of user data to make their platforms as engaging as possible, given that they make money by selling ads. “There is rising public concern that this business model undermines users’ agency and harms public discourse,” the lawsuit reads. It adds that many experts have argued that these engagement-driven algorithms contribute to the spread of false, extreme or polarizing content. Zuckerman says that his extension would allow users to take back control of their social media experiences by tailoring what they see.

He has not released the extension yet because when another developer released a tool that had been released with the same intent, Meta threatened the developer with legal action. The developer’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were also permanently deleted and Meta demanded that he must never create a tool that interacts with Meta products in any way. Fearing legal action, the developer complied.

What does the lawsuit argue?

The lawsuit argues that Section 230 (c)(2)(B) of the US Communications Decency Act, immunizes “a provider or software enabling tools that filter, screen, allow or disallow content that provider or user considers obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable.” As such, it points out that the US Congress promotes the development of content filtering tools that enable users to curate their online experiences and avoid content they would rather not see.

Why it matters:

This lawsuit comes at a time when Meta has been sued by the attorney generals of 33 US states for the impact of its platforms. The states have alleged that Meta knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and other social media platforms that make children and teens addicted to them. One of the addictive features that have been flagged in the lawsuit is the infinite scroll. Zuckerman’s browser extension could serve as a potential solution to the social media addiction concern that has been flagged in this lawsuit.

India has notably been trying to deal with concerns around social media addiction as well. In a consultation on the Digital India Act last April, IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar spoke about addressing harm of addiction in the draft act. Chandrasekhar made a similar point during the consultation on the act in Bangalore, mentioning that the government had consulted parents, teachers, and student gamers “to learn about what kinds of risks and harms exist for children.”

It is also important to mention here that unlike the US’s safe harbor regulation (Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act), India doesn’t save third party players from liability. India’s safe harbor provision, Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, simply states that “an intermediary shall not be liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him.” This means that a third-party extension provider would probably not be able to argue for immunity against a cease and desist notice by a platform under these safe harbor provisions.

How platforms control users’ internet experience:

Companies retain control over key features of their platforms. They decide who can join, what can be said, and what can be heard. They decide where to place ads, whether to promote sensational content or informative content, and whether to “nudge users into ideological silos or expose them to the plurality of society.” Crucial to this control over users’ experience is the platforms’ reliance on algorithms to rank content in each user’s feed. These ranking algorithms determine what the user sees and interacts with. The lawsuit quotes Meta studies that found users spend less time on the platform when ranking algorithms are turned off.

The lawsuit points out that the process of unfollowing pages, friends, and groups is cumbersome and time-consuming. While Meta is testing a feature that allows users to unfollow a small group of pages, friends, and groups simultaneously, this feature appears to be limited to unfollowing those that a user recently followed.

Also read:

• 33 US States Sue Meta Over Harmful Effects On The Mental And Physical Health Of Young People
• How Has Social Media Addiction Grown Among Children And Why Is It So Hard To Address This Issue?
• Meta Under Fire In The US For Allegedly Allowing Underage Users To Access Its Platforms

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