Lawsuit against Meta asks if Facebook users have right to control their feeds using external tools

By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer

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 to let users unfollow all the content fed to them by Facebook’s algorithm.