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With over a decade of retrospect, the story of Facebook, as told in David Fincher's "The Social Network," sounds quaint. There are no senate hearings about election-influencing data-sharing scams, nor any conversations about how the future of democracy, at one point or another, may have laid in Mark Zuckerberg's hands. The movie is about ambition and global popularity, yes, but it was made when Facebook hadn't yet reached the height of its tremendous influence. Fincher has since floated the idea of making a sequel, but in a new interview with The Guardian, the filmmaker hints that doing so would be tricky.

When asked about the potential for a "The Social Network" sequel during an interview for his new film "The Killer," Fincher was fairly reticent, answering only: "Aaron [Sorkin] and I have talked about it, but, um ... that's a can of worms." Fincher says nothing more about what exactly...

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg Thursday banned the account of President Donald Trump indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks for using the platform to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”

“Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms,” Zuckerberg said in Facebook post.

It’s the strongest stance yet by the social media giant as the sector weathers intense criticism as it attempts to deal with the events of yesterday, when a storm of Trump supported broke into the Capitol during hours of chaos that shuttered Congress as lawmakers attempted to certify the election of Joe Biden.

Twitter banned Trump for 12 hours yesterday pending removal of three incendiary tweets from throughout the day, one...

With so much that's happened with social media over the past decade, The Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin still hopes to pen The Social Network 2, delving into the controversies Facebook has seen in recent years. The original movie, directed by David Fincher, was an incredible success when it as released in theaters in 2010. Along with earning several prestigious awards and scoring big with critics, the movie was a box office hit as well, grossing $224 million against a $40 million budget.

While The Social Network more or less shows how the social media platform came to be, there's been a lot that's happened with Facebook since. That includes the time Mark Zuckerberg famously testified to Congress amid accusations of allowing misinformation to spread on Facebook, which is believed by many to have been a major contributing factor in swaying the 2016 presidential election. As the material is certainly there, Sorkin opened up on...

Aaron Sorkin went on record in January 2019 saying the time had come to script a sequel to Oscar winner “The Social Network,” and now he reveals he’s ready to put pen to paper as soon as filmmaker David Fincher agrees to direct the follow-up project. Speaking to MTV’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast to promote his Netflix film “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Sorkin confirmed he wants to see a “Social Network” sequel in development in the future.

“I do want to see it. And [producer Scott Rudin] wants to see it,” Sorkin said. “People have been talking to me about it because of what we’ve discovered is the dark side of Facebook. Do I want to write that movie? Yeah I do. I will only write it if David directs it. If Billy Wilder came back from the grave and said he wanted to direct it, I...

If you’ve been paying attention in this digital age, The Social Dilemma will not tell you what you already did not know. Director Jeff Orlowski, best known for his feature documentaries Chasing Coral and Chasing Ice, dives into something equally as vast for his next film: social media and the psychological effects that small nudges can have on consumers. The film itself operates primarily within two modes: interviewing social media executives who were influential in products like the Facebook like button and a narrative component that traces a family’s use (and abuse) of social media. These narrative sections bring home how social media can affect our behavior, with push notifications forcing us to pick up our phone even when we’ve committed to a lockdown. While informative, these elements don’t work quite as well as the documentary segments and seem to distract from the key information. We...

Featuring: Brittany Kaiser, David Carroll, Paul-Olivier Dehaye, Julian Wheatland, Carole Cadwalladr, Ravi Naik, Paul Hilder, Christopher Wylie, Emma Graham-Harrison, Gill Phillips, Sarah Donaldson, Roger McNamee | Written by Karim Amer, Erin Barnett, Pedro Kos | Directed by Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim

It is becoming increasingly clear that Netflix is at its best within its market of original content when it crafts documentaries. The Great Hack, directed by duo Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, reinforces said attribute tenfold with an eerie, informative and enlightening account with a subject matter on the world’s fastest-growing asset – consumer data. An extraordinary venture that begins with one man’s mission to gain his data back from a consumer and soon opens up a world that touches on firestorms ranging from political agendas and fraud, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the infamous data scandal from Facebook.

The Great Hack is a deep and profound documentary that will...

Mark Zuckerberg's mid-week missive on his plans to pivot Facebook. to "privacy" set off a tsunami of hot takes, which mostly missed a bigger trend. While Facebook is long overdue for an overhaul after years of missteps and bad behavior, this pivot probably isn't that. Zuckerberg isn't killing his business, just trying to make it look better amid mounting public and political pressure. But even as Zuckerberg plasters platitudes over some less-meaningful tweaks to his business, what we still quaintly call "social media" has already been overhauling itself.

Facebook's changes are just part of much bigger shifts that long term will move us from what we've known the past decade into a new era focused on messaging, e-commerce and intimate, quickly dissipated and constant connections with people we may already actually care about.

Even Zuckerberg acknowledges that, at least in this crucial paragraph:

“Today we already see that private messaging,...

The lineup for keynote and featured speakers continues to grow at SXSW with their final round up of guests. Call Her Ganda filmmaker Pj Raval and a conversation with Spotify chief content officer Dawn Ostroff, Gimlet co-founder Matt Lieber and Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano have been added to keynote program while journalist Katie Couric, Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster, MasterClass CEO and cofounder David Rogier; entrepreneur and model Ashley Graham; journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell; writer and director Noah Hawley; actress Billie Lourd, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim and others have been added to the feature lineup.

“SXSW continues to be a unique destination for innovation and discovery,” said Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer. “The addition of groundbreaking filmmakers like Pj Raval and influential voices like Ashley Graham and Malcolm Gladwell expresses the depth of the event, and we’re so pleased about how the whole of Conference programming has come together.

SXSW announced a new wave of keynote and featured speakers on Tuesday for the 2019 edition of the annual Austin festival, with major figures from politics, business and entertainment included on the list.

Keynotes announced today include former House Speaker John Boehner; Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond of Beastie Boys with Amazon’s Nathan Brackett; award-winning producer, musician and songwriter T Bone Burnett; investor and author Roger McNamee; and Recode co-founder and editor-at-large Kara Swisher. They join a keynote list that already includes Olivia Wilde, Marti Noxon, and Jessica Brillhart.

The featured speaker list is even bigger, including “Handmaid’s Tale” star Elisabeth Moss, “First Reformed” star Ethan Hawke, and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Other featured speakers include WWE’s Stephanie McMahon and Charlotte Flair, David Byrne, Elizabeth Banks, Brandi Carlile, Amber Heard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nile Rodgers, Padma Lakshmi, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Turner Entertainment Cco Kevin Reilly.

SXSW...

SXSW has announced keynote speakers and has added another round of impressive names to their already robust roster of featured speakers. The South by Southwest Conference and Festival takes place March 8–17 in Austin.

Political trailblazer Stacey Abrams, multi-hyphenate Hollywood force of nature Elizabeth Banks, Saturday Night Live fave and Shrill star Aidy Bryant, music icon David Byrne, newly-minted Grammy winner Brandi Carlile, SXSW regular Ethan Hawke, Aquaman star Amber Heard, Goop high priestess Gwyneth Paltrow, Facebook saga players Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (The Winklevi?), and more.

On top of that, keynotes will include former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner with Acreage Holdings Chairman and CEO Kevin Murphy; a Keynote Conversation with Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond of Beastie Boys with Amazon’s Nathan Brackett; award-winning producer, musician and songwriter T Bone Burnett; investor and author Roger McNamee with Wired Editor in Chief Nicholas Thompson; and...

The Beastie Boys, Brandi Carlile, Elisabeth Moss, T Bone Burnett and former House Speaker John Boehner have been added as speakers at the SXSW Conference during March 8–17 in Austin, Texas.

Keynotes announced Tuesday include Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond of the Beastie Boys with Amazon’s Nathan Brackett; investor and author Roger McNamee with Wired editor-in-chief Nicholas Thompson; and Recode co-founder and editor-at-large Kara Swisher, in addition to Boehner and Burnett. The conference runs concurrently with the SXSW Film Festival.

Featured speakers include politician Stacey Abrams, David Byrne, Elizabeth Banks, Aidy Bryant, professional wrestler Charlotte Flair, Ethan Hawke, Amber Heard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Reilly, Nile Rodgers, futurist Brian Solis, Padma Lakshmi, WWE chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon; Gemini president Cameron Winklevoss and CEO Tyler Winklevoss. Carlile and Moss will be paired in a discussion.

“We’re fortunate to bring together a diverse group of creative thinkers and leaders to share their perspectives,...

If you were thinking of quitting social media, the upcoming Frontline film The Facebook Dilemma on PBS might just push you over the edge, judging by the ominous insights shared at a panel this afternoon at TCA summer press tour.

Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor and venture capitalist, recalled reaching out to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg in October 2016. He had seen indications of misuse of the platform and wanted to offer his counsel. The indifferent reaction McNamee says he received shocked him and galvanized his criticism of the company’s stance. The executives viewed the malevolent use of the platform as a “public relations problem, not a business problem,” McNamee charged.

“I thought that Facebook was being manipulated by...

Roger McNamee, an early investor in Facebook-turned-vocal critic, did not mince words about the social media giant during a PBS TCA panel on Tuesday.

“I think that they were willfully blind during 2016 and what was going on,” McNamee said during a panel for an upcoming “Frontline” documentary on Facebook. “The evidence seems to suggest they knew they were dealing with Russians.”

The “Frontline” doc, set to debut sometime in the fall, covers the recent scandals plaguing the popular social network. PBS says the documentary is the result of a year-long investigation into several high-profile issues, including selling users’ personal information. McNamee, a founding partner of the venture capital firm Elevation Partners, is featured predominantly in the doc.

Also Read: Facebook Catches Effort to Meddle in 2018 Election

McNamee, who was one of Facebook’s first investors and a mentor of sorts to its founder Mark Zuckerberg, spent much of the...

On tonight’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the show continues its 16th season with a balanced group assembled to dissect the top week’s headlines — including Zooey Deschanel, Michelle Goldberg and Rick Wilson. After Maher’s opening monologue, the show will open with tech investor and American businessman Roger McNamee as the top-of-show interview guest. McNamee is a believer in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. In an interview with BTCManager.com, regardless if there is a bubble with the stock he is bullish on the long-term viability of cryptocurrency, as he said: “We saw that with the internet bubble, we’ve seen it over and over through American...read more...