‘The Social Reckoning’ is a dramatization of the real-life Facebook leaks that surfaced in 2021

NEED TO KNOW

• The Social Reckoning dramatizes whistleblower Frances Haugen’s 2021 leak of internal Facebook documents to The Wall Street Journal
• The documents were reported to show Facebook executives’ knowledge of the app’s harmful effects on users, though the company pushed back
• Jeremy Strong leads the film as Mark Zuckerberg, while Mikey Madison plays Haugen and Jeremy Allen White acts as journalist Jeff Horwitz

The Social Reckoning is based on the real-life story of Frances Haugen and her decision to leak information about Facebook.

The movie, which is a “companion piece” to director Aaron Sorkin’s 2010 film The Social Network, follows Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the late 2010s and 2020s as his company grows. Along the way, Haugen, who is a Facebook engineer, confides in then-Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz about her concerns with the company.

“Sorkin’s original screenplay is based on the events that gave rise to The Wall Street Journal‘s shocking exposé The Facebook Files,” the synopsis reads. “The film is inspired by the true story of how Frances Haugen (Madison), a young Facebook engineer, enlists the help of Jeff Horwitz (White), a Wall Street Journal reporter, to go on a dangerous journey that ends up blowing the whistle.”

Among other revelations, the WSJ investigation documented how, per the leaked files, the company was aware of the harmful effects of their apps. As a result of the leak, Zuckerberg and his company faced an investigation by the U.S. Senate.

The film, which hit theaters on Oct. 9, stars Jeremy Strong as Zuckerberg, Mikey Madison as Haugen and Jeremy Allen White as Horwitz, as well as Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen and Bill Burr.

Here’s everything to know about the true story behind The Social Reckoning.

Is The Social Reckoning based on a true story?

The Social Reckoning is a dramatization of the real-life 2021 Facebook leak by whistleblower Haugen that has become known as “The Facebook Files.”

Haugen joined Facebook in 2019 and subsequently became a product manager on the civic integrity team. After the 2020 presidential election, Haugen’s team was dissolved, and she became concerned about the company’s perceived lack of interest in public safety. She left Facebook in May 2021, but before leaving, she became a whistleblower and started leaking documents to Horwitz.

In addition to the story of how the Facebook Files came to be, the film also follows the fallout from the ensuing investigation.

What were the Facebook Files?

In September 2021, The Wall Street Journal began publishing a series of Facebook’s internal documents they called “The Facebook Files.” The documents included several research reports and discussions among employees about Facebook and Instagram’s negative effects on teens and women, the spread of misinformation and the apps’ seeming contributions to violence.

The investigation included nine total reports that examined how some high-profile users were allowed to bypass safety rules and regulations, especially pertaining to spreading COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation.

Another revelation centered around Instagram’s impact on the mental health and wellbeing of teenage girls. One of the documents claimed that one in three people felt their body issues were directly affected by Instagram and thought the app was problematic.

Facebook discredited the reports and called the investigation a “mischaracterization.”

“At the heart of these stories is a premise which is false,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “Yes, we’re a business and we make profit, but the idea that we do so at the expense of people’s safety or wellbeing misunderstands where our own commercial interests lie.”

Why did Frances Haugen expose the Facebook Files?

Haugen initially remained anonymous before revealing her identity in an October 2021 60 Minutes interview. During the appearance, Haugen maintained that she had Facebook’s best interests in mind but thought the company had turned into something that “is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world.”

“When we live in an information environment that is full of angry, hateful, polarizing content, it erodes our civic trust, it erodes our faith in each other, it erodes our ability to want to care for each other,” she said on 60 Minutes.

In addition to her claims that Facebook put profit ahead of public safety, Haugen also testified in front of a U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2021 that she came forward over fears that what she saw as the divisive nature of the app could cause harm to users. She further felt the content did have and could continue to have larger effects on politics, safety and democracy, as well as the company’s investors whom she felt Facebook was misleading.

What were the repercussions of the Facebook Files?

Haugen testified in 2021 before a U.S. Senate subcommittee where she detailed her time at the company, reiterated what she found dangerous in the documents and called for change in the laws around the internet and social media.

“I’m here today because I believe Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy,” Haugen testified, per The Guardian. “The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed. They won’t solve this crisis without your help.”

Zuckerberg responded to Haugen’s testimony by posting a 1,300-word letter denying her claims that he ignored data showing Facebook’s products were harmful.

“I’m sure many of you have found the recent coverage hard to read because it just doesn’t reflect the company we know. We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health,” Zuckerberg wrote.

He claimed that “many” of Haugen’s allegations “don’t make any sense.”

The subcommittee hearing ended with bipartisan agreement that they needed to establish new legislation for how Facebook targets users and guidelines around children and social media, the Associated Press reported at the time, though nothing concrete has followed. Soon after the investigation, Facebook rebranded to Meta and said it would be phasing in new parental supervision capabilities.

In 2026, Meta also reached a multi-billion-dollar settlement with a coalition of states who claimed its platforms were addictive and harmful to young people. As part of that deal, the company agreed to make multiple major changes including a daily time limit for users under 18 and blocks on overnight use.

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