Do social media users have the right to control what they see — or don’t see — on their feeds?
A lawsuit filed against Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. is arguing that a federal law often used to shield Internet companies from liability also allows people to use external tools to take control of their feed — even if that means shutting it off entirely.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Meta Platforms on behalf of an Amherst professor who wants to release a tool that enables users to unfollow all the content fed to them by Facebook’s algorithm.
The tool, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, is a browser extension that would let Facebook users unfollow friends, groups and pages and empty their newsfeed — the stream of posts, photos and videos that can keep them scrolling endlessly. The idea is that without this constant, addicting stream of content, people might use it less. If the past is any indication, Meta will not be keen on the idea.
A UK developer, Louis Barclay, released a similar tool, called Unfollow Everything, but he took it down in 2021, fearing a lawsuit after receiving a cease-and-desist letter and a lifetime Facebook ban from Meta, then called Facebook Inc.
With Wednesday’s lawsuit, Ethan Zuckerman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is trying to beat Meta to the legal punch to avoid getting sued by the social media giant 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,” Zuckerman said in an interview. “We basically get whatever controls Facebook wants. And that’s actually pretty different from how the Internet has worked historically.” Just think of email, which lets people use different email clients, or different web browsers, or anti-tracking software for people who don’t want to be tracked.
Meta declined to comment.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in California centers on a provision of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which is often used to protect Internet companies from liability for things posted on their sites. A separate clause, though, provides immunity to software developers who 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.”
The lawsuit, in other words, asks the court to determine whether Facebook users’ news feed falls into the category of objectionable material that they should be able to filter out in order to enjoy the platform.
“Maybe CDA 230 provides us with this right to build tools to make your experience of Facebook or other social networks better and to give you more control over them,” said Zuckerman, who teaches public policy, communication and information at Amherst. “And you know what? If we’re able to establish that, that could really open up a new sphere of research and a new sphere of development. You might see people starting to build tools to make social networks work better for us.”
While Facebook does allow users to manually unfollow everything, the process can be cumbersome with hundreds or even thousands of friends, groups and businesses that people often follow.
Zuckerman also wants to study how turning off the news feed affects people’s experience on Facebook. Users would have to agree to take part in the study — using the browser tool does not automatically enroll participants.
“Social media companies can design their products as they want to, but users have the right to control their experience on social media platforms, including by blocking content they consider to be harmful,” said Ramya Krishnan, senior staff attorney at the Knight Institute. “Users don’t have to accept Facebook as it’s given to them. The same statute that immunizes Meta from liability for the speech of its users gives users the right to decide what they see on the platform.”
Lawsuit against Meta asks if Facebook users have right to control their feeds using external tools
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Lawsuit against Meta asks if Facebook users have right to control their feeds using external tools
- The tool, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, is a browser extension that would let Facebook users unfollow friends, groups and pages and empty their newsfeed — the stream of posts, photos and videos that can keep them scrolling endlessly
Israeli army admits to Gaza strike
- Admission comes following investigation by BBC Verify
DUBAI: The Israeli military has admitted to the BBC that it conducted a strike on the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which reportedly killed at least one Palestinian and injured 30 others.
The attack took place on Sunday, soon after an incident near a new aid distribution center in Rafah.
BBC’s fact-checking unit, Verify, was analyzing footage of the Rafah incident when it identified a separate strike in nearby Khan Younis.
Initially thought to be linked to the Rafah incident, BBC Verify geolocated the footage to Khan Younis, 4.5 km from the aid distribution site.
The Khan Younis blast had not been announced by the IDF, which regularly publishes operational updates online.
When BBC Verify approached the Israeli military, it admitted it had carried out an artillery strike and said the incident was the result of “technical and operational errors.”
Troops had fired toward a specific target but the artillery deviated and “wrongfully hit the Mawasi area” in Khan Younis, the military said, without providing any evidence to support its claims.
The blast took place in an area where displaced Palestinians had been sheltering. The footage showed bloodied bodies surrounded by dust clouds, BBC said. Women and children could be seen running and screaming as they watched injured people being carried away.
The broadcaster emphasized the rarity of the Israeli military acknowledging errors. BBC Verify’s analysis of its official Telegram account identified four previous instances where it admitted to mistakes or technical and operational errors related to the war in Gaza.
Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills three journalists
- Committee to Protect Journalists denounces attack on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital courtyard
LONDON: Three journalists were killed and four others injured in an Israeli strike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital’s courtyard in central Gaza, drawing condemnations from media rights groups.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said the attack struck a media tent and identified the victims as Ismail Badah, a cameraman for Palestine Today TV channel, which is affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group; Soliman Hajaj, a Palestine Today editor; and Samir A-Refai of the Shams News network.
The strike injured 30 others, including four journalists. Among them were Imad Daloul, a correspondent for Palestine Today, and Ahmed Qalja, a cameraman for Qatar-based Al-Araby TV, both are reported to be in critical condition.
The syndicate accused Israel of “a full-fledged war crime” that “reflects a deliberate and systematic policy aimed at silencing the Palestinian narrative.” It said that targeting journalists “within the grounds of a hospital constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that the strike targeted “an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was operating in a command-and-control center” in the hospital’s yard, without providing details or evidence.
In a statement on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack, calling for international action to stop Israel from targeting journalists “based on unsubstantiated terrorism claims.”
CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said: “These are not isolated incidents, but systematic attacks by Israel on the media. This disturbing and deliberate pattern must end.
“The killing of journalists in a hospital courtyard on the holy day of Yawm Al-Arafah — preceding Eid Al-Adha — underscores the relentless dangers facing the media in Gaza.”
BBC journalists detained at gunpoint in southern Syria
- BBC sent complaint to Israeli military about the incident
LONDON: Israeli Defense Forces detained, blindfolded, tied up and strip-searched at gunpoint seven members of a BBC Arabic crew as they approached the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a BBC journalist said on Thursday.
Feras Kilani, a British special correspondent for BBC Arabic, said he was among the team detained for seven hours at a checkpoint near the barrier of Quneitra city, located within the buffer zone between Syria and Israel.
“A minute after we started filming in the area, a white car approached from the other side of the checkpoint. Four Israeli soldiers got out of the car and surrounded us. They pointed their rifles at our heads and ordered us to place the camera on the side of the road,” wrote Kilani in a BBC article.
The crew’s phones and laptops were inspected, with some files deleted, and their vehicle was thoroughly searched as they were led into a room, tied up and blindfolded.
Kilani’s team included two Iraqi BBC staff members and four Syrians, among them three freelancers and a cameraman.
“I pleaded to the officer to release them, and he promised to do so after the interrogations. They were taken one by one to the same room for strip search and questioning.”
Kilani said the team was also threatened before their release in the evening: “The officer threatened us with worse consequences if we approached the frontier from the Syrian side again and said that they know everything about us and would track us down if any hidden or un-deleted photo was ever published.”
In a statement, the BBC said it had filed a complaint with the Israeli military over the incident but had yet to receive a response.
“The BBC strongly objects to the treatment of our staff and freelancers in this way. Despite making clear to the soldiers on multiple occasions they were working for the BBC, the behavior they were subjected to is wholly unacceptable,” the broadcaster said.
YouTube educator says she is ready to risk career for Gaza’s children
- Ms Rachel says personal encounters with Palestinian families compel her to act
LONDON: American children’s educator and YouTuber Rachel Griffin Accurso, known globally as Ms Rachel, has said she is willing to jeopardize her career to advocate for Palestinian children suffering under Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
Ms Rachel said she had been targeted by online campaigns and faced calls for government investigation after voicing support for children affected by war in Gaza and elsewhere.
Despite growing criticism from some pro-Israel groups and conservative media, she said she remained defiant in a recent interview with WBUR, a Boston-based public radio station.
She said: “I would risk everything — and I will risk my career over and over to stand up for children. It’s all about the kids for me. I wouldn’t be Ms Rachel if I didn’t deeply care about all kids.”
Her comments came as humanitarian agencies continue to sound the alarm over conditions in Gaza, where more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, and the UN has warned that the enclave faces imminent famine.
The YouTube star said a recent meeting with Palestinian mothers, whose children remain trapped in Gaza, had had a profound effect on her. She said: “When you sit with a mother who’s FaceTiming her boys in Gaza who don’t have food, and you see that anguish, you ask yourself: What more can I do?”
Ms Rachel recently published about her encounter with Rahaf, 3, a double amputee from Gaza who was evacuated for medical treatment in the US by the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
Rahaf’s story, including her wish to return to school and stand while praying, has been shared by Ms Rachel on her social media platforms, alongside the educator’s advocacy for children in Gaza.
Ms Rachel has faced accusations of bias, including a call by a pro-Israel organization urging the US attorney general to investigate her messaging. She acknowledged the pressure, but insisted her mission remains unchanged.
She said: “It’s painful, but I know who I am, and I know how deeply and equally I care for all children.”
A former teacher in New York, Ms Rachel said her work had always been rooted in the principle that all children, regardless of nationality or background, deserved dignity, safety, and access to basic needs.
She added: “That’s the basis of everything for me — children are equal.”
BBC defends Gaza coverage after White House criticism over aid site reporting
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC of taking “the word of Hamas with total truth,” claimed the corporation had retracted a story about aid distribution center incident in Rafah on Sunday
- BBC rejected accusations as “completely wrong,” saying figures were attributed and updated throughout the day based on information from a range of sources
LONDON: The BBC has strongly defended its reporting of a deadly incident near a US-backed aid distribution site in Gaza, rejecting criticism from the White House as “incorrect” and denying claims that it had taken down a story.
The row erupted after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a press briefing on Tuesday, accused the BBC of relying on information from Hamas in its initial reporting of a shooting near an aid distribution center in Rafah on Sunday.
Leavitt also claimed the BBC had retracted a story — a claim the broadcaster called “completely wrong.”
“The claim the BBC took down a story after reviewing footage is completely wrong. We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism,” the BBC said in a statement.
Leavitt’s remarks came in response to questions about reports that Israeli forces had opened fire near the aid site. Holding printed screenshots from the BBC website, she accused the broadcaster of changing casualty figures in multiple headlines and said it had “corrected and taken down” its report.
“The administration is aware of those reports and we are currently looking into the veracity of them because, unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth,” she said.
Leavitt listed a series of changing headlines: “We like to look into it when they speak, unlike the BBC, who had multiple headlines, they wrote, ‘Israeli tank kills 26’, ‘Israeli tank kills 21’, ‘Israeli gunfire kills 31’, ‘Red Cross says, 21 people were killed in an aid incident.’”
“And then, oh, wait, they had to correct and take down their entire story, saying: ‘We reviewed the footage and couldn’t find any evidence of anything,’” she said.
The BBC issued a swift rebuttal, emphasizing that all casualty figures were clearly attributed and updated throughout the day based on information from a range of sources — standard practice in any fast-moving situation, especially during conflict.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, at least 31 people were killed in the gunfire. The International Committee of the Red Cross later confirmed that 21 people had died. Initial reports from local medics cited 15 dead.
The numbers were “always clearly attributed, from the first figure of 15 from medics, through the 31 killed from the Hamas-run health ministry to the final Red Cross statement of ‘at least 21’ at their field hospital,” the BBC statement said.
“Our news stories and headlines about Sunday’s aid distribution center incident were updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources … This is totally normal practice on any fast-moving news story.
“Completely separately, a BBC Verify online report on Monday reported a viral video posted on social media was not linked to the aid distribution center it claimed to show.
“This video did not run on BBC news channels and had not informed our reporting. Conflating these two stories is simply misleading,” it added.
Witnesses, NGOs and local health officials said that civilians had been shot at while waiting for food at the Rafah aid point. The Israeli military denied these claims and said its forces had not fired at civilians. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed private group overseeing aid distribution, dismissed the reports as “outright fabrications.”
On Wednesday, GHF announced a temporary suspension of its operations in Gaza, citing security concerns. The Israeli army warned that roads leading to aid centers were now considered “combat zones.”
The closure follows a string of deadly incidents that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned as “unacceptable” and potentially “war crimes.”
The information war surrounding the conflict — now in its 21st month — has intensified, with both Israel and Hamas battling to control the narrative.
Independent reporting from Gaza remains limited. Israel continues to bar international media, including the BBC, from entering the territory, forcing news organizations to rely on local journalists, social media and unofficial channels.
Many local reporters are working under extreme physical and psychological pressure and are themselves frequent targets of Israeli airstrikes.
The BBC reiterated its call for unimpeded media access and urged the White House to support that demand.
“It’s important that accurate journalism is respected,” said Jonathan Munro, deputy director of BBC News. “And that governments call for free access to Gaza.”
