Federal judge dismisses suit by professor who wants to release ‘Unfollow Everything 2.0’

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge Friday dismissed a lawsuit against Meta, formerly Facebook, filed by a University of Massachusetts professor who sought a ruling that the social media juggernaut couldn’t sue him if he released a tool called “Unfollow Everything 2.0.”

The browser extension would allow Facebook users to more efficiently unfollow friends, groups, and pages, and, in doing so, effectively turn off their newsfeeds.

“Professor Zuckerman, or his investors, want an opinion on legality beforethey invest further resources into Unfollow Everything 2.0,” said U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who heard the case. “Federal courts do not, and cannot, exist to give advisory opinions to assist investment decisions.”

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed the case in San Francisco on behalf of Ethan Zuckerman, an associate professor of public policy, communication and information at The University of Massachusetts – Amherst.

Zuckerman asked the court to declare that Section 230 of Communications Decency Act — a law widely used by internet-based businesses to shield them from liability over the content users post on their websites — also protects the development of tools designed to empower people to better control their social media experiences.

He also asked for the court to rule that operating Unfollow Everything 2.0 doesn’t run afoul of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act or the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.

“I’m suing Facebook to make it better,” Zuckerman said in a statement. “The major social media companies have too much control over what content their users see and don’t see. We’re bringing this lawsuit to give people more control over their social media experience and data and to expand knowledge about how platforms shape public discourse.”

Although Zuckerman has not yet built Unfollow Everything 2.0, he estimates his team could have the product ready in as little as six weeks.

In its order, the court killed the lawsuit on technical grounds, saying that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case. Specifically, the judge ruled Zuckerman’s lawsuit wasn’t ready for legal action yet because he hadn’t built the product yet.

“Professor Zuckerman’s request for declaratory relief is not ripe for adjudication and seeks an unconstitutional advisory opinion,” said Corley.

Under the Declaratory Judgment Act, courts may preemptively declare the rights of a party in case of an “actual controversy” and must decide in each case whether to exercise its discretion to permit that judgment.

On the ripeness matter, Corley ruled that the lawsuit was too speculative, again citing the lack of a finished product.

“Here, Plaintiff’s alleged injury is too contingent upon uncertain events to satisfy the constitutional ripeness requirement,” stated Corley.

According to his lawsuit, Zuckerman hasn’t released Unfollow Everything 2.0 because of the near certainty that Meta will sue him if he does. He further argued that the absence of any actual code shouldn’t matter because the dispute revolves around the product’s core purpose, not its technical details.

Unfortunately for Zuckerman, the judge didn’t buy that argument.

“If all that mattered were the core function or outcome the tool enabled, then this dispute could be about any extension that automated an interaction with Facebook, real or hypothetical,” she said.

Zuckerman also claimed that Meta’s litigious past against third-party developers instilled a real and reasonable fear of legal action, creating a need for a declaratory judgment in his favor.

Meta sent a cease-and-desist letter in 2021 threatening legal action to UK-based developer Louis Barclay, who had created a similar tool, also called Unfollow Everything, that was available for free and enabled Facebook users to automate the cumbersome task of unfollowing friends, groups and pages.

Corley rejected this claim as well, stating that Zuckerman had no connections to Barclay and that unlike the case law he cited, Meta had not contacted him to assert an opinion on the legality of Unfollow Everything 2.0.

The judge concluded her order by saying that even if the court had subject-matter jurisdiction, it would decline to hear the dispute until it becomes more concrete.

The case was dismissed without prejudice. Zuckerman will have a chance to refile his case at a later date if he chooses.

Neither Zuckerman nor Meta immediately responded to a request for comment.