Facebook’s
myriad troubles and especially the hearings going on in Washington with regard
to whistle-blower Frances Haugen’s testimony gathered laughs in Saturday Night
Live (SNL) episode that aired on October 9. While the spotlight has largely been
on the social media platform and concerns raised by a person on the inside over
the last week, SNL decided to highlight the Congress’ arrogance in dealing with
social media in its recent episode.

In one
of the several acts of the several skits at play, a person mimicking Senator
John Kennedy of Louisiana says, “Now exactly how big is this algorithm?” The
overall map skit had more than a few references to the South Korean web-series “Squid
Game”.      

SNL’s opening skit was not the sharpest
portrayal of ex-Facebook employee Frances Haugen’s testimony this week. The
cold open, which said, “ as an equal opportunity and bipartisan skewering of
our digitally ignorant elected representatives, certainly started a fire
-especially under Texas’ Ted Cruz.

Pete Davidson threw back to the MySpace
era as website co-founder Tom Anderson and that was a saviour for a nanosecond.
That blast from the past wasn’t enough to add meat to thin gruel.

In
response to a self-interested question from the widely despised Lone State
Senator (played by Aidy Bryant), the SNL’s Heidi Gardner who played as Haugen,
noted “Ted Cruz sucks isn’t really misinformation, it is just one person’s
opinion.” The clearly squirming Ted Cruz replied, “Well more than one person’s
opinion.

There
was a Mark Zuckerberg cameo
from the cast member Alex Moffat. There were more rips on Ted Cruz. He is a
politician who often provides the set up unwillingly in real life.

“Is
the dark web the same as Black Twitter?” asked Cruz to Haugen. This line
required a quick google search
to check if Cruz really said that. 

The
episode was hosted by first timer Kim Kardashian West. With musical guest
Halsey, the second show of SNL’s 47th season is likely to get ratings rebound
or at least not another drop.