facebook's News Feed algorithm has long been at the center of debates over some of Meta's biggest problems. It has also been a near-constant source of user complaints. But if a newly filed lawsuit is successful, facebook users will be able to use the social network with very different information. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University facebook-users” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:is suing;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “> Meta on behalf of a researcher who wants to release a browser extension that would allow people 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 if they had 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, effectively disable their newsfeed – the endless scroll of posts that users see when they log in to facebook” . the demand . “Users who download the tool will be able to use the platform without the feed or select the feed by refollowing only those friends and groups whose posts they really want to see.” (Meta officially renamed News Feed to “Feed.”)
Zuckerman is not the first to come up with a tool of this type. He was inspired by a similar project, also called “Unfollow Everything,” from 2021. facebook sued the UK man who created that extension and technology/2021/10/facebook-unfollow-everything-cease-desist.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:permanently disabled;cpos:4;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “> your account. Zuckerman is trying to avoid a similar fate with his lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, asks the court to “recognize that Section 230 protects the development of tools designed to enable people to better control their social media experiences.”
The case could be a novel test of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which is primarily known as the law that exempts online platforms from legal liability for the actions of their users. But unlike the recent Supreme Court involving the statute, Zuckerman's case “relies on a separate provision that protects developers of third-party tools that allow people to select what they see online, including by blocking content they consider objectionable”.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit. The company has a history of harsh tactics when it comes to independent investigators. In addition to shutting down the previous “Unfollow All” version, the company deactivated the facebook accounts of a group trying to study political ad targeting in 2021. Those types of tactics have led some researchers to implement “data donation” programs. data”, 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 “anonymous data about their facebook usage.” The data would then be used to investigate the effects of facebook's feed algorithm.
