Anas v. the Giant

Synopsis

In 2015, Anas Modamani took a selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a refugee camp in Berlin and posted it to his Facebook page. That image was quickly doctored and repurposed into fake news posts attacking Merkel and Modamani, falsely linking him to terrorist attacks and crimes across Europe.

Assuming the post went against Facebook’s Community Standards, Modamani reported the hate speech immediately and expected a swift removal of the offending content. Instead, the post went viral and Modamani, fearing for his life, went into hiding. That is until he decided to sue Facebook.

What happened next reveals the measures Facebook is willing to take to protect their business model, at the expense of the user. On the surface, Facebook proclaims “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected," but in reality, the social network turns a blind eye to hate and division whenever it’s more profitable.

With behind-the-scenes access, the filmmakers followed Anas and his legal team in the days leading up to their day in court, providing an unprecedented look into Facebook’s tactics. Modamani’s story not only shows us the real-life cost of online hate speech and disinformation, but it exposes our true powerlessness as users and just how unprepared our governments are to fight the GIANT that is Facebook.

ANAS V. THE GIANT world premiered at SXSW 2019.

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Credits

Produced by Gun Shy Productions LLC

Adrienne Collatos
Director & Producer

Karen K. H. Sim
Writer & Producer

Leah Goudsmit
Editor & Associate Producer

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