Netflix plans to offer subscribers horrifying 'Black Mirror' experience
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*This article contains spoilers for Black Mirror season 6 - Episode 1*
“Haha, that’s never going to happen,” “Oh, that’s far-fetched,” chimed in the internet after they saw ‘Joan is Awful,’ the first episode in the latest season of Black Mirror.
The plot revolves around Joan, played by Annie Murphy of Schitt’s Creek fame, who leads a normal life. But her life is turned upside down when she discovers that a streaming platform called Streamberry, very similar to Netflix, has launched a show called ‘Joan is Awful,’ which uses Joan’s real life for its plot.
But how can Streamberry do this?
Apparently, in the episode, when Joan is signing up for the streaming service, she doesn’t read the terms and conditions properly and inadvertently gives Streamberry permission to watch her every move and listen in on her conversations through her personal devices.
And while the potentiality of this happening to anyone sounds scary, Netflix doesn’t think so. The popular streaming service has launched two websites - Streamberry.tv and You Are Awful.
The first website has the same look and feel of the fictional streaming service in the episode and features a series called ‘You Are Awful’ on the main page, along with other popular Black Mirror episodes. Once you click on ‘You Are Awful’, the link takes you to the second website, which asks you to take or upload a photo of yourself to set up a new Streamberry profile and eventually become the subject of your very own real-life horror show.
Before submitting a selfie, the website warns that your photo “may end up on a billboard,” and users must consent to “Netflix’s use of my image for its marketing campaign.” Netflix also has a link to the Terms and Conditions document, reported TechCrunch. The document is a careful reminder of the rights which Joan hands over in the episode to Streamberry.
Netflix’s latest gimmick is in response to the brouhaha on social media over the episode. Twitter users are responding by signing up for the Streamberry service and tweeting about it.
Excited to sign my life away to Streamberry 🥲https://t.co/RskSc4qsNk pic.twitter.com/52YJ6UXd1S
— Kushaan (@kushaanshah) June 21, 2023
The episode is a commentary revolving around the ethics of AI-generated content, a surge of which we've seen over the last seven months.
In the episode, Streamberry uses a quantum computer to make an AI version of any person. The AI machine, named 'Quamputer,' has several simulation levels in a fictitious world. Only when we reach the end of the episode do we realize that there's a major plot twist.
Tread with caution as you enter the multiverse.
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