If you know one thing about HBO satire Silicon Valley it’s the stream of geeky tech references thrown into its packed opening credits. And the show has added a timely joke aimed at Facebook for its fifth season.

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During the opening sequence, a digital billboard can be seen displaying the Facebook logo before the text momentarily changes to the suspiciously Russian-looking Cyrillic letters “ГДÇЭБФФЖ”. It can be seen as a brilliant dig at the social media’s complicity in the spreading of Russian propaganda.

Facebook previously admitted that it recommended content produced by Russian operatives to some users.

Other new additions to the credits include Amazon drones carrying Whole Foods packages (Amazon bought the US supermarket chain in 2017) and a Coinbase tower (referencing the current cryptocurrency obsession). There's also a very sneaky joke aimed at Snapchat in the credits, but you'll have to strain to see it: the company's logo can be seen to vanish from the top of a building, a swipe seemingly aimed at the unpopularity of the app.

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We'll have to wait until next season to see what Cambridge Analytica nod they can squeeze in.

Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

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