Published : 07 Oct 2026, 05:46 PM
Updated : 07 Oct 2026, 05:46 PM
Aaron Sorkin, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “The Social Network”, was not looking to make another movie about Facebook when he met former company employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Sorkin had struggled to find an idea for a new project for about a year when meeting Haugen gave him the story that eventually became “The Social Reckoning”, which he also directed. The film debuts in theatres on Friday.
“I was looking for a good story, and after a period of about a year of just epic writer's block, of not being able to come up with any story, I met Frances Haugen, and suddenly a good story started to take shape in my head,” Sorkin said in an interview with Reuters.
“The Social Network”, released in 2010, told the origin story of Facebook, which has since changed its name to Meta. The new film focuses on Haugen and journalist Jeff Horwitz, who reported on thousands of internal documents she provided to him for a Wall Street Journal investigation known as “The Facebook Files”.
“It is a David and Goliath story, but there are two Davids,” Sorkin said. “One is Frances. She picks up a rock and throws it at Facebook, and the other is print journalism. They pick up a rock and they throw it at tech.”
Horwitz, who later detailed the story in his 2023 book “Broken Code”, now works as an investigative reporter for Reuters. He won a Pulitzer Prize in beat reporting this year with Reuters colleague Engen Tham for reporting on Meta.
Sony Pictures bought the rights to Horwitz’s life story in connection with his earlier Facebook reporting. However, “The Social Reckoning” is a fictionalised account and does not draw on his reporting about Facebook, Instagram or Meta since he joined Reuters in 2025.
The film follows Haugen’s meetings with Horwitz from December 2020 and her reluctance to go public with the documents. She eventually decided that the revelations would have a greater impact if she attached her name to them and later testified before Congress.
Haugen told lawmakers that she believed Facebook’s algorithm was amplifying divisive content in pursuit of profits. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the film.
Facebook disputed Haugen’s characterisation of its operations at the time. Zuckerberg also rejected the argument that the company deliberately promoted content that made people angry for profit.
In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion over the next decade under a settlement with US states that would impose strict limits on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram. Meta denied wrongdoing and said providing teenagers with a safe and productive experience on its platforms was an “absolute imperative”.
‘What I Do Is a Painting’
Horwitz was not involved in the film’s production and had no say over its content, but he met Sorkin and answered questions about his reporting process and relationship with Haugen.
Horwitz said Sorkin had told him he would change some chronology and details to make the story work as a film. He also described the journalist character as a fictionalised composite rather than a direct portrayal of himself.
Sorkin said the major facts were accurate but that he had to create conversations and adjust the timeline to build a compelling cinematic narrative.
“People don't live their lives in a series of scenes that form a narrative by the end. People don't speak in dialogue. Those are things that screenwriters do,” Sorkin said.
“What you do as a journalist, that's a photograph. What I do is a painting.”
Jeremy Strong plays Zuckerberg in the new film, replacing Jesse Eisenberg, who declined to reprise his role. Jeremy Allen White portrays Horwitz, while Mikey Madison, who won an Oscar for “Anora”, plays Haugen.
