Facebook Blacklists Developer Whose Tool Helps People Spend Less Time on Platform

Facebook has reportedly banned the developer of a browser extension that allows Facebook users to automatically unfollow friends and groups on the platform. The blacklisting demonstrates that for all their talk, the Masters of the Universe despise anything that may cause users to take their eyes off the platform.

The Verge reports that the developer behind the “Unfollow Everything” browser extension tool that allows users to mass unfollow users and groups on Facebook claims that he has been permanently banned from the social media platform. Louis Barclay developed Unfollow Everything to allow users to unfollow friends, groups, and pages, removing their content from the Facebook News Feed.

Discussing his experience using the tool with Slate, Barclay stated: “I still remember the feeling of unfollowing everything for the first time. It was near-miraculous. I had lost nothing, since I could still see my favorite friends and groups by going to them directly. But I had gained a staggering amount of control. I was no longer tempted to scroll down an infinite feed of content. The time I spent on Facebook decreased dramatically. Overnight, my Facebook addiction became manageable.”

Facebook sent Barclay a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year, claiming that he had violated the Facebook terms of service by making software that automated user actions. Barclay then claim that Facebook “permanently disabled my Facebook and Instagram accounts” and “demanded that I agree to never again create tools that interact with Facebook or its other services.”

He noted that the “Unfollow Everything” tool was being used by researchers at the Swiss University of Neuchâtel as part of a study examining the effects of the Facebook News Feed on user happiness and as he couldn’t risk a legal battle with a tech giant like Facebook, he was forced to remove the tool.

Breitbart News has reported extensively on the “Facebook Files” series from the Wall Street Journal which made a number of damning claims about the tech giant based on a series of internal company documents in recent weeks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the internal documents reveal that the tech giant Apple threatened to remove Mark Zuckerberg’s company from its App Store in 2019 following a report from BBC News that detailed the human trafficking taking place across the social media platform.

In another report titled “Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show,” the Wall Street Journal claims that the company is aware that its photo-sharing app Instagram can have a negative effect on the body image of young women.

Read more about Barclay’s experience with Facebook at the Verge here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com