Subject of Award Winning Documentary ‘Social Media Monster’ Has History Here – How to View the Movie

We recently received a Press Release alerting us to the fact that Peter John Ross’s award-winning documentary film “Social Media Monster” was now streaming for free on Tubi — Then all of a sudden it wasn’t!

What happened, we asked the filmmaker about his documentary account of the 2018, 2019 activities of Matthew Berdyck in Saint Joseph, Missouri, not long after Berdyck’s 2017 departure from Front Royal/Warren County where he was attracted to the emergence of the FR-WC EDA “financial scandal” to forward some of his conspiracy theory fantasies about the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conspiring with Jennifer McDonald to defraud the public about what he asserted was a failed cleanup at the former Avtex federal Superfund site.

Graphic clip from Trailer for Peter John Ross’s film “Social Media Monster”. Below, the documentary’s director. Courtesy Photos Sonnyboo Productions

This was Ross’s response to our query about the Tubi reversal: “Social Media Monster was set for streaming on Amazon Prime and was available on Tubi for 18 hours before they yanked it, siding with the cyberpredator found guilty of Stalking in Court, and silencing the voices of his victims and targets.”

An award winning filmmaker before his release of “Social Media Monster” Ross has his own, long and troubled history with becoming a target of Berdyck’s social media stalking, which as Ross noted in publicizing the film’s current distribution, was the launching point for “Social Media Monster”. Following the Trailer LINK below is the director’s summary of the evolution of “Social Media Monster” under his various topic subheaders:

SOCIAL MEDIA MONSTER – TRAILER

BEHIND THE SCENES

Given the director’s personal experience with an internet troll—well, this exact internet troll—he wanted to create a film from the perspective of the average citizen of St. Joseph, Missouri, as Matthew started his information warfare and the social media attacks as they unfolded.

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Social Media Monster has been an official selection at 50 film festivals, has won 15 awards, and was nominated and/or placed as a finalist at 17 festivals. We won the prestigious “Stranger than Fiction” award at the New Jersey Documentary Film Festival in 2022.

Below are additional passages from the film and the announcement of the current distribution of “Social Media Monster” with background and context on the film’s creation from its creator:

“Have you ever gotten into a fight with someone online? What happens when they bring that fight into the real world? I directed the documentary ‘Social Media Monster’ and it’s available to stream on Mosaic TV, which restored the movie on their site and streaming app (Available on AmazonFire TV and Roku and many TV’s).

SYNOPSIS

Prepare to pass through the looking glass where one man without a job, living in his car, can leverage a mobile phone and free WiFi at McDonald’s & Starbucks to tear apart the fabric of people’s lives. And he can do it all without consequences. Meet Matthew, a Social Media Monster.

When Matthew arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri, no one had any idea what was coming, that this one man would use social media to disrupt the lives of so many people. This documentary looks at how one person can get away with incredible amounts of damage and never pay a price, even when he threatens to commit acts of terrorism at a nuclear facility.

Without legal consequences a regional nuclear power plant became a pawn in the “Social Media Monster’s” game of discontent over the St. Joseph, Missouri community’s reaction to his entry into their affairs, circa 2018-19. How without consequences you may wonder – Keep reading and then watch the movie.

RELEVANCE & CONTEXT

Social Media Monsters, and Matthew is hardly the only one, exist in the loopholes between our justice system and companies like Facebook, Google, X, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, et al. As our society moves deeper into a virtual world, the legislature and law enforcement remain in a 20th-century mindset. Social media companies are not required to halt online abuse; they benefit from online fighting as it increases engagement, which in turn incentivizes advertising.

And Royal Examiner notes there is one PostScript – Perhaps a sequel – which might include the reason for Tubi’s withdrawal from expanded distribution of the film, if they were willing to come off, or could be compelled to, any communications they received from the subject of the documentary impacting their decision to pull the film:

“Interestingly, Matthew is very aware of the film, and the situation continues to unfold. Director Peter John Ross filed for a Civil Stalking Protection Order (CSPO) against Matthew Berdyck in 2022, which was granted. Matthew Berdyck now has four warrants for his arrest (misdemeanor and no extradition) and multiple findings of contempt of court for violating the CSPO. All of this has been painstakingly documented and is being readied as a sequel film or streaming series about the continuing story.”

Here’s another graphic from the film and Trailer for it: Be careful of what lurks in the dark corridors of social media.