Mark Zuckerberg savaged by 'South Park'
Commentary: He's a brutal bully whose site peddles fake news and who makes odd gestures and noises. Who knew?
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Not a nice man. I mean, of course, the cartoon version.
Mark Zuckerberg has become something of a target lately.
Which is odd for someone who runs a social network that has so much influence and seems reluctant to take responsibility for things that occur on it.
On Wednesday night, "South Park" felt it appropriate to examine Zuckerberg's character in a pulsating episode.
The story revolved around the kids' superhero franchise trying to get a deal with Netflix. This appears to be very easy.
It's not so easy, however, when the evil Professor Chaos is planting fake news stories about them on Facebook, stories that their parents read.
These concerned adults therefore invite Zuckerberg to town. He turns out to be less the slightly diffident nerd than we're used to in real life, and more a rosy-cheeked bully nerd who utters strange noises, makes peculiar kung fu gestures and turns up wherever he likes in people's houses.
He tells the parents: "Facebook has become a tool for some to disrupt our country and our community. You say these things as if they are my fault, and yet they are not."
And yet the parents want to know why he would let Professor Chaos spread such muck about the other kids.
"Simple, he paid me $17.23," replies Zuckerberg.
In literature, they call this the heart of the matter.
Naturally, the moral of the tale isn't one-sided. The police chief asks the wise question: "Who invited Mark Zuckerberg to town in the first place?"
Let's have a show of hands please.
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
There is something beautifully apposite in seeing an unpleasant cartoon Zuckerberg in the same week in which he tried to turn himself into a likeable cartoon character.
On Tuesday, he tried to sell his company's VR capabilities by projecting his own avatar into ravaged Puerto Rico.
He chose a background of devastation as the moment to virtually high-five a colleague.
Somehow, that scene would have fitted perfectly into this "South Park" episode.
iHate: CNET looks at how intolerance is taking over the internet.
Life, Disrupted: In Europe, millions of refugees are still searching for a safe place to settle. Tech should be part of the solution. But is it?