The tool is nearly ready to be released, Zuckerman told Ars, but the University of Massachusetts Amherst associate professor is afraid that Facebook owner Meta might threaten legal action if he goes ahead. And his fears appear well-founded. In 2021, Meta sent a cease-and-desist letter to the creator of the original Unfollow Everything, Louis Barclay, leading that developer to shut down his tool after thousands of Facebook users had eagerly downloaded it.
Zuckerman is suing Meta, asking a US district court in California to invalidate Meta’s past arguments against developers like Barclay and rule that Meta would have no grounds to sue if he released his tool.
I think we’re on the same page, I don’t care if they read my feed in the slightest. Reddit made a shit ton off of me and my friends and I didn’t care about that either. They were providing a free service and I used it, make money. My issue with reddit was/is, they think they’re the product and treat everyone as such.
Yep, that’s one of the things I’m doing right here by getting the word out for everyone to spread out through the Fediverse. People were saying that when I joined, but I didn’t understand what the ramifications were. Of course, I can’t tell anyone on the largest instance, lol.