Facebook goes into damage control over movie

The Social Network opens next Friday, and depicts company founder Mark Zuckerberg as an idea thief.

Facebook has dismissed a new movie based on the life of Zuckerberg as “fiction,” and according to producers company executives tried to persuade them to alter the script while it was still in production. The movie is based on two court cases that centered on the origins of the hugely popular site. It has been alleged that Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from fellow students while he was an undergraduate at Harvard. Zuckerberg will appear on Oprah today to announce a $100-million donation to Newark’s public schools. He says the timing of the announcement is a coincidence, and not an attempt to improve his image before the movie’s release.