by Grace Alexander

Created on: May 16, 2010

Critics say a soon to be released film called 'The Social Network' portrays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as a “borderline-autistic conniver" and a "ruthless and untrustworthy sex maniac". A draft script leaked online tells the story in the form of flashbacks during a court hearing; Zuckerberg is being sued by twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who claim they helped fund Facebook in its early days and were cut out by a greedy Zuckerberg as the social network took off.

The story begins on February 4, 2004, with a 19 year old Zuckerberg (played by 26 year old Jesse Eisenberg) being unceremoniously broken up with in a Harvard bar by Erica, his girlfriend - who tells him, among other things, that he will “go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a tech geek" but "I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.”

According to the film, Zuckerberg promptly turns to alcohol to soothe his grief, and holes up in his Harvard dorm where he creates a computer code to catalogue Harvard's collection of student body biographies and pictures. He and his misogynistic buddies while away the hours ranking the female students on a scale which compares them to barnyard animals.

When the 'Facebook' is released, it goes viral within 30 minutes, crashing Harvard's servers and attracting the notice of the Winklevoss twins, who commission Zuckerberg to expand his book to include athletes. Zuckerberg drops out of college and moves to Silicon Valley with Napster co-founder Sean Parker (the music piracy site prince is played by Justin Timberlake).

The movie portrays Zuckerberg as descending into a undisciplined life of steamy groupie sex and drunkenness with Parker facilitating him as the two built the social network that changed the world. As its popularity exploded around college campuses across the country, Zuckerberg greedily circled the wagons, attempting to cut out early supporters.

The twins sue, bringing the film up to date as wastrel Zuckerberg fights it out for control of the fledgling company. The twins are awarded $65 million in a Delaware court, and Parker (who claims he really ran the business while Zuckerberg abandoned himself to dissipation) sells out for $200 million - but Zuckerberg has the last laugh as his empire is now worth over $4 billion.

In real life, Zuckerberg just celebrated his own 26th birthday, and had planned to spend it in the Caribbean. Instead, crisis meetings in California were mandatory as the geek of all geeks (who considers himself a 'good guy') battled public denunciation over new policies that many fear will result in users' information being sold at what amounts to an online auction.

Hundreds of Facebook users swarmed to delete their accounts in the name of privacy, and it remains to be seen if the social networking empire can truly overcome what most people consider their right to privacy. The movie is set for release in October.

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