The film begins with a young woman seeking a better life through employment at a large technology company, The Circle. Once she's hired she becomes part of a new roll-out by the companies founders which would put her life on display 24/7. She agrees and initially the number of followers she gets and the outpouring of connection from around the world is overwhelming to her in such a positive way that she is further encouraged to continue.
But the realities of relationships that desire privacy in a world of social media doesn't lend itself to Mae's publicity. We first watch as her best friend Mercer is hounded by people seeking to track him for Mae, but he doesn't know what's happening and seeks to run away, and even when he knows he just wants to be left alone. The drama of following him turns deadly when drones surround him out of no where and he swerves to avoid them while crossing a bridge and loses his life as his truck plummets into the rock beneath.
Mae's 24/7 public display of her life has gotten her a lot of attention, but the reality seen here is that her followers become weaponized to find Mercer in a way that is simply attempting to please an audience of people who most have never met at the expense of someone's life. What we see here is that the real world consequences to ones actions on social media aren't tangible. Without attempting to get too far out of line, a loose comparison would be pilots going from operating in a cockpit of a fighter jet to sitting behind a desk operating a drone from thousands of miles away.
In the end Mae must bring down Bailey and Stenton, the founders of The Circle. And she does this by having them simply where the 24/7 live monitor she's been wearing. The film is showing us that while those who created the technology want "transparency for all", the truth is that they want every one else to be transparent while they remain secretive about what they are creating. There cannot be a double standard when the privacy of every person in the world is at stake. It is similar to higher ups at Apple not allowing their children to use their products until they get to a certain age because they understand there are objective affects from their use. This film reveals this double standard.
