Professor Ethan Zukerman from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst filed a lawsuit seeking to verify the legality of his browser extension Unfollow EVERYTHING 2.0.
The extension was created to simplify the process of unfollowing friends, groups, and pages on Facebook and aims to help users free themselves from the psychological pressures of the social network that keep them constantly scrolling through the news feed.
Zukerman stated that his objective is to improve Facebook, arguing that major social networks have too much control over the content users see. The professor aims to empower individuals with more control over their social media usage and increase awareness on how platforms shape public opinion.
The lawsuit includes a request to the court to confirm that Zukerman’s extension complies with META’s terms and conditions as well as U.S. laws. It emphasizes that U.S. legislators, when enacting section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, intended to encourage the development of content filtering tools for users.
The lawsuit also stresses that section 230 not only shields social platforms from legal liability for user-generated content but also supports the right to create tools for content customization. Zukerman’s legal team asserts that users have the autonomy to reject social networks as they currently exist and can decide for themselves what they wish to see in their feeds.
The lawsuit addresses concerns among the public that the business model of social networks, which focuses on engaging users with advertisements, is manipulative and disrupts socio-political discourse.
Nevertheless, Professor Zukerman harbors apprehensions about potential legal ramifications. In 2021, UK developer Louis Barclay, who developed a similar tool called UNFOLLOW EVERYTHING, was permanently banned from Facebook after facing the threat of a lawsuit.
* Meta and its platforms are classified as extremist, and their operations are prohibited in the Russian Federation.