NETFLIX “THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK” SHINES A LIGHT ON HOW EASILY THE INTERNET CAN FOOL PEOPLE

Over the last few years, the Internet and social media have become main sources of how people consume information. My guess that if a poll was taken that a large percentage of people get most of their information there. Whether they watch or read the news there that they can also watch on TV they would say that that is where they see it. Back in 2020 Netflix put out a documentary about people spending too much time on social media and its influence called “The Social Dilemma”. They discussed the debate between the Internet being a useful tool and people relying on it too much and it becoming an obsession. It became a poignant movie as that year the world dealt with the pandemic and social media was a way for people to still connect. The most important thing it spotlighted was that all the people that helped create social media that they interviewed for the doc all said they didn’t realize the consequences of their actions. They all tried to go back and fix certain things but that was too late and that they and their children would not use social media. This new installment called “The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem” talks about those that thought their harmless, inside joke antics on the Internet couldn’t hurt anyone. That is until they basically got set loose on the Internet and real world and then turned into something worse.

“The Antisocial Network” shows us the sub-world of Internet nerds and outsiders that found a place to say whatever they wanted because they were anonymous. What started as a website called 2Chan in Japan that people converted into 4Chan was where people, mostly teens and 20 years olds went to say outrageous things due to their anonymity. Nothing was out of bounds because it wasn’t anything real and mostly made up of inside jokes that anyone that went there frequently understood. They would insult each other all in fun to extremes and basically became the source of “trolling” people on the Internet. The documentary explores what happens when the gate is open from that site and people go on to any other social media sites saying the same things they said there. How those actions took on new meaning and caused the spread of information that is not real. Once again, they interview the people that started this site and trend and get to the root of the behavior.

This is a documentary that should open some eyes to those that use the Internet for too much information or what they feel is the truth. They did this very well, actually. They explore the birth and growth of the Internet group known as “Anonymous” that has hacked and annoyed several large organizations in the world. Not only did they do that, but they birthed some of the biggest and most controversial conspiracy theories that exist today. They talk to the people that did all of this and how they admit that most of these statements and stories were simply jokes and that the people that originally started 4Chan kind of got pushed out and new, more subversive and threatening groups seemed to take it over. They even interview a man who was constantly giving out information from “Q” or “Qanon” only to find out that it was all a lie. The documentary also shows how some of them that caused the issue are trying to fix them. It shows that while they will try some of the genies may never be put back in their bottles. “The Antisocial Network” should definitely be on your list to see how some lies have become taken as truth and to further understand that you can’t believe everything you see on the Internet.