Back in what seems like a hundred years ago (but was really only 2010), writer Aaron Sorkin (Being the Ricardos, Molly’s Game) and director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) dramatized the rise of Facebook with The Social Network. Well, of course, as we all know, the story didn’t end there, and Sorkin is now taking on a new chapter in the social media juggernaut’s history. Only this time, he’s manning the director’s chair as well with The Social Reckoning.
Taking place between 2019 and 2021, The Social Reckoning is about a young Facebook employee named Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison from Anora) who believes that she has stumbled onto some nefarious goings-on at the Social Media Empire. She teams up with a Wall Street Journal reporter named Jeff Horwitz (The Iron Claw’s Jeremy Allen White), and together they decide to expose the suspicious algorithms and dishonest fact-checking of what is likely the second most powerful tech company in the world.
No one writes dialogue quite like Aaron Sorkin. His dialogue makes his actors look good. This takes nothing away from Madison, White, and Jeremy Strong (Succession), who plays Mark Zuckerberg. They are all terrific. But Sorkin’s masterfully crafted screenplay is the star of The Social Reckoning. And his direction just makes the movie all the stronger. Whereas The Social Network was Fincher interpreting Sorkin, The Social Reckoning is all Sorkin.
That’s not saying that the dialogue is the only thing that Sorkin’s script has going for it, only that dialogue is Sorkin’s biggest strength. He also clearly knows his way around plot and narrative. The Social Reckoning unfolds a lot like a spy thriller, with Jeff and Frances helping each other uncover the subtle manipulation and overt misinformation that is guided by Facebook’s system of likes, comments, and shares. And that manipulation and misinformation leads users to dark and disturbing places on the platform. If even half of what Sorkin writes is true (and it is based on a true story), The Social Reckoning is a very eye-opening and distressing movie. Real James Bond stuff.
Ok, well, maybe not quite James Bond. But at least Sherlock Holmes. It’s more of a detective mystery than an action flick. The more Jeff and Frances dive into things, the deeper they get into the weeds that live between responsibility to the truth and free speech. And while it may not be too unpredictable or feature a tone of twists and turns, it’s still a shocking look at the state of technology in the modern world and how clicks and views are more important than integrity. It’s a dark movie.
The Social Reckoning is the rare combination of entertaining and meaningful, falling into the same general subgenre as Spotlight, The Post, and All the President’s Men. Sorkin definitely has strong opinions on the subject, and his movie both points fingers and assigns blame but also shows who was held accountable and what eventually became of things. It’s an important movie and one that anyone who has ever used social media should see.
GRADE – B+
Rating: R for language
Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Studio: Columbia Pictures
