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Netflix is raising some big questions on social media by repeatedly posting “You are bugs.” The streaming giant has gone as far as putting the message in its bio on Instagram and Twitter, and even changed its cover photo to recite the message on the latter.
Wondering what “You are bugs” means? The phrase comes from the new sci-fi series 3 Body Problem, which premiered Mar. 21, 2024 on the streamer.
Based on Liu Cixin’s novel The Three-Body Problem, the series follows a group of scientists and a detective as they work together to solve a great threat to humanity.
The series is tied to a revolution in China in the 1960s, which saw the militant party chanting “root out the bugs.”
According to Tudum, the protests aimed to get rid of “any infiltrators of the communist revolution — including scientists and academics.”
3 Body Problem Episode 4 (“Our Lord”) sees billionaire and former radical environmentalist Mike Evans (Jonathan Pryce) referring to the people trying to destroy his organization as “pests” while speaking to the Lord (San-Ti).
Mike says, “These pests who are tracking us, they’re trying to hide their intentions because otherwise they couldn’t get to us.” The Lord doesn’t realize that Mike is speaking figuratively and replies robotically, “Pests are destructive insects or other animals that attack crops, food, and livestock. Your enemies are humans.”
Mike says he was “using a metaphor” and describing the people as “pests” because they’re “annoying, inconsequential, easy to eliminate, like bugs you can squash under your shoe.”
At the end of the next episode, every screen on Earth broadcasts the threatening message “you are bugs,” insinuating that humanity is in danger.
D. B. Weiss, who co-created the series with David Benioff and Alexander Woo, spoke about the scene with Tudum. “It’s just sort of a shock-and-awe fear component [with] ‘you are bugs,’ ” Weiss said. “We knew [we] would create some really fun, great shots of, like, Piccadilly covered in screens saying ‘you are bugs,’ the Buddhist monk’s phone telling him that ‘you are bugs.'”
People reacted in shock to Netflix’s cryptic tweets, with several suspecting that the streaming giant had been hacked and the message was being posted unintentionally. One person wrote, “Alright who pissed off the Netflix Twitter intern,” and another tweeted, “I think a senior programmer is having a bad day at Netflix.”
While Netflix’s messaging might confuse those who haven’t seen the series, it’s bound to excite fans awaiting news of a season renewal.
3 Body Problem is currently streaming on Netflix.
