Is ‘The Social Reckoning’ a True Story? The Real Facebook Whistleblower

• The Social Reckoning is inspired by a true story: the 2021 leak by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, played by Mikey Madison.
• Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed it as a companion piece to The Social Network, with Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg.
• It opens only in theaters on Friday, Oct. 9.

Yes, The Social Reckoning is based on real events. Sony describes the film as “inspired by true events and the whistleblower who started the social media reckoning,” and its heroine is a real person: Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee who leaked the company’s internal research in 2021.

Aaron Sorkin, who won an Oscar for writing The Social Network, wrote and directed it. Sony calls the new film a companion piece to that 2010 movie, and releases it exclusively in theaters on Oct. 9.

Who is Frances Haugen, the real whistleblower?

Haugen was a product manager on Facebook’s civic integrity team. Before she left the company in May 2021, she copied tens of thousands of pages of internal research, which became the basis for a Wall Street Journal series called the Facebook Files that September.

She revealed her identity on 60 Minutes on Oct. 3, 2021. Two days later she testified before a Senate Commerce subcommittee at a hearing titled “Protecting Kids Online,” where Instagram’s own research on teenage users was at the center.

Her lawyers also filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That route matters: federal law protects employees who report possible securities violations to the SEC from retaliation.

Facebook’s side: Mark Zuckerberg answered hours after she testified, in a post on his Facebook page, writing that “the argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical.” Later that month the company renamed itself Meta.

Who plays who in The Social Reckoning?

Mikey Madison, who won the best actress Oscar for Anora, plays Haugen. Sony describes her character as a young Facebook engineer who “enlists the help of Jeff Horwitz,” the Wall Street Journal reporter.

Jeremy Allen White, of The Bear, plays Horwitz, who wrote the Facebook Files stories and later a book about the company, Broken Code.

Jeremy Strong plays Zuckerberg, the role Jesse Eisenberg had in 2010. Sorkin has said that Strong stayed in character between takes and treated his co-stars the way he imagines Zuckerberg treats people.

The cast also includes Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen and Bill Burr. One of the executive producers is Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor who became one of the company’s best-known critics.

How does it connect to The Social Network?

The Social Network, directed by David Fincher from Sorkin’s script, told the story of Facebook’s founding and the lawsuits that followed. The Social Reckoning picks up the company more than a decade later, when the product had grown into a global force and its own employees started to question it.

It is not a sequel with the same cast. Sorkin returns, but the story moves from the founders to the people who tried to hold the company to account. Here is Sony’s trailer.

When and where can I watch The Social Reckoning?

It opens exclusively in theaters on Friday, Oct. 9. Sony has not announced a streaming date, and “exclusively in theaters” means it will not be on a streaming service or on demand on opening day.

More true stories on screen: what is real in the Unabomber series and the true story behind NBC’s Line of Fire. More in Movies & TV, and everything on Mikey Madison is on her page.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Sony Pictures, official film page and trailer; CBS News, 60 Minutes (Scott Pelley’s interview with Frances Haugen, Oct. 3, 2021); U.S. Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing, Oct. 5, 2021, via C-SPAN; The Wall Street Journal, the Facebook Files (Jeff Horwitz and colleagues, 2021); Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook, Oct. 5, 2021; Variety; TIME. Photos: frames from Sony’s official trailer, from the 60 Minutes interview and from the Golden Globes’ official video.