Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Tumblr and WooCommerce, has funded a short documentary titled "Code for the People" that champions the open-source software movement and urges internet users to defend the open web. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Bao Nguyen, the roughly 20-minute film frames itself as both a human story and a manifesto, warning that the free and open internet is threatened by companies building "walled gardens" to control user data and by the rise of opaque, "black-box" AI systems. Its release matters as a public call for individuals to actively support open-source principles rather than treat them as a niche technical concern.

The film partly recounts how Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg founded the company on open-source philosophy, but is pitched as a "recruitment video" for the wider movement. Titled in full "Code for the People: The Human Story of the Open Web", it premiered in New York on 1 July at the Crosby Street Hotel and was due for free online release on 9 July at codeforthepeople.com. A subsequent Variety-moderated panel featured Nguyen alongside Automattic's Paolo Belcastro and Eric Binnion, and technologist Anil Dash of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Nguyen said he aimed for a "protopian" rather than dystopian tone, while speakers argued that open source shifts power to users, competes on convenience and user experience, and contrasts with closed AI systems such as OpenAI's.