Following the revelations of a whistleblower who has made damaging allegations about Facebook’s algorithm and business practices, prioritizing profits over their own in-house data that points to the social harm they can cause, another Facebook project is in the works. Titled “Doomsday Machine,” this project will focus on more recent events beyond the social media’s company inception and rise in popularity, chronicled in David Fincher‘s “The Social Network.”
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Variety reveals that British actress Clarie Foy (“Girl In The Spider’s Web,” “The Crown,” “First Man“) has nabbed the lead role of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in a new upcoming series. The show will focus on the relationship between Sanberg and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was depicted as a ruthless, awkward, and slightly inhuman person in Fincher’s aforementioned film.
“Doomsday Machine” was created by Ayad Akhtar and is based on the novel “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle For Domination” penned by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang.
Facebook has dominated the headlines recently thanks to the aforementioned whistleblower, Frances Haugen. She has gone on the record and shared documents with 60 Minutes, backing up claims that Facebook was well-aware that their algorithms and apps were directly harming the mental health of children, leading to minor users being shown posts/accounts promoting suicide and anorexia. Greenlit in the aftermath of this damaging controversy, it does sounds like the series will incorporate these recent revelations alongside the controversial shielding of President Trump and allowing political misinformation to circulate on the Facebook platforms after the election, potentially amplifying/promoting the January 6th Insurrection (something they’ve been accused of in other countries, as well).
Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp had a seven-hour outage this week that conveniently occured during the major coverage of these revelations.
Here’s how the true-life events will influence the series according to Variety:
“Beginning with the 2016 election and rise of disinformation, followed by recent revelations like XCHECK, a program that shielded important users, including former President Trump, from Facebook’s rules and regulations. The show will also cover how the company was aware of the mental health risks posed by Instagram to younger users, and the push by Zuckerberg to use the News Feed as his own propaganda machine to push out articles with positive slants about Facebook.“
“Doomsday Machine” will also reportedly have multiple journalists consult on the show to preserve the accuracy of events.