Uncanny valley vibes: Zuckerberg sends the public spiralling over ‘not human’ group selfie

Opening his new Meta store, the Facebook founder posed with his employees – but there was something off about the picture.

Alien? Robot? Reptilian?

At this point, the public doesn’t care who (or what) Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is, but they are absolutely convinced he is not human.

The conspiracy theorists were once again thrown into a spin after the Facebook CEO shared a group selfie to his Facebook page (how meta) to promote the grand opening of Meta’s first in-person store, coming to California on May 9.

The 37-year-old was snapped wearing a virtual reality headset and hanging out with his trusty employees in the decked-out shop which, he wrote, gave a “sense for what’s coming as we build towards the metaverse”.

Meta's first store is opening in Burlingame, California on May 9! You can experience Quest 2 and project what you're...

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, April 25, 2022

And although the frankly spooky corporate-speak of the caption was enough to send a shiver down anyone’s spine, it was the photos of the CEO and his trusty employees that reignited the extraterrestrial rumour mill.

The group selfie that set the Zuckerberg-is-an-alien rumour mill back in motion. Picture: Facebook

“Uncanny valley vibes right here,” one commenter wrote.

“Why does he look like he doesn’t have a soul?” another wrote.

“Damn! You guys have really finessed that human skin. It’s hard to point out the lizards,” said another.

Among the brutal comments, some gave Mark Zuckerberg kudos. One wrote: ‘This model of Mark is very convincing.’ Picture: Facebook

The digs at the “alien” Zuckerberg – who first emerged during the awkward congress grilling of 2018, and inspired countless memes and entire social media groups dedicated to debunking his humanness – followed the picture as it rolled across the internet.

On Twitter, one user took the liberty of wiping the smiles of the group, giving the picture an even creepier spin.

You cannot convince me they aren’t aliens pic.twitter.com/s4lWQB4EKT

— 🧘🏽‍♂️🍄altered consciousness 📷🥋 (@TCastro88) May 7, 2022

“Be it aliens, robots, whatever, they are most definitely not human,” one person replied. “Nothing anyone can say will change my mind.”

“This picture does a pretty good job showing the certainly odd behaviour or vibes, or something. Just something very off in this pic,” another said.

Definitely something unhuman. Be it aliens, robots, whatever, they are most definitely not human. Nothing anyone can say will change my mind. This picture does a pretty good job showing the certainly odd behavior or vibes, or something. Just something is very off in this pic.

— Bradley Hamby (@fr33domAddict) May 8, 2022

Another said that a Madame Tussaud’s wax figure of the Facebook founder, unveiled in San Francisco in 2014, looks more lifelike.

This wax sculpture looks more like a human than the actual Zuckerberg pic.twitter.com/q8xsHC1PKK

— Hamster swimming in Gogurt🦖 (@keksidy) May 7, 2022

To be fair, we’ve all been victim to a huddled group selfie at some point. We’ve been front and centre, we’ve ducked between bodies and peeked over a shoulder, or stood on our toes to make it into a shot. They typically make for interesting snaps.

But, admittedly, there’s something off about this one.

It could be the lighting, or the half-soft focus, the too-smooth skin, the smiles that don’t quite reach the eyes, or the lack of reflective glint in them. Or maybe, as some suggested, the Meta boss is leaning into the alien energy and absolutely trolling the conspiracy theorists.

I mean, if you can’t beat them – and, as is the law of the internet, if anything he posts is ripe for the brutal public picking – you might as well join them. Or at least send them chasing their own tails.