R | 1h 52m | Drama, Biography, Thriller, Crime | 2026
Although highly unlikely, the release of two features in the same week with subject matter this similar is eerily ironic. First came the streaming documentary “Your Attention Please” and, over the weekend, came the long-in-development sequel to “The Social Network,” “The Social Reckoning.”
At the center of each is former Facebook programming engineer Frances Haugen. She appears as herself in the documentary and is portrayed by recent Oscar winner (“Anora”) Mikey Madison here. Haugen gained worldwide notoriety in 2021 by exposing, in the “Facebook Files,” the sinister motives of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong replacing Jesse Eisenberg from “The Social Network”).
Returning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin opens the movie with a five-minute scene that provides the perfect springboard for the remainder of the narrative.
A Clever Opening
A calm white female is on the side of a highway at night, surfing the internet on her phone. She stands next to a vehicle that appears to have overheated. A police patrol car pulls up. Two officers ask the woman a series of appropriate and related questions without a hint of aggression. One is a black male; the other is a Latina female.
One thing is abundantly clear: The woman knows the law and avoids implicating herself, although she doesn’t seem to be doing anything illegal. It is when the officers question her sobriety that she becomes defensive and evasive. She starts recording the conversation. She accuses the officers of racially profiling her and quickly posts the video on Facebook.
Wisely not including too much backstory, Sorkin starts the movie in earnest in 2019 with Haugen starting at Facebook as part of its Civic Integrity team. Exactly what “Civic Integrity” means is nebulous. In essence, it’s the equivalent of the Internal Affairs Division of a police department.
Enthusiastic and Loyal
Haugen’s enthusiasm and loyalty make her crushing reaction to what she finds all the more devastating. Boiled down, Haugen discovers that upper management in general, and Zuckerberg specifically, values site engagement over user safety.
It is Facebook’s not-so-secret mission to create algorithms that are specifically designed to cause addiction and foment hate between user groups with wide political and ideological chasms. Pitting the far left against the far right creates more content, such as the traffic video that opens the movie. The site also targets insecure adolescents and young adults with preexisting mental and body image issues.
Haugen sincerely desired to keep her findings “in-house,” meaning not public, at least initially. She meets with fellow employees hosted by Facebook’s media relationship executive Teddy Marks (Billy Magnusson); he cuts off Haugen’s remarks, which frustrates her even more.
The Last Resort
Out of necessity and as a last resort, Haugen reaches out to Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”), a Wall Street Journal investigative reporter who recently relocated to San Francisco. Horwitz is keen on exposing the deception and, more so, Zuckerberg’s cavalier attitude.
By this point in his career, Zuckerberg felt bulletproof. Charlie Garrigan (Bill Burr), part of Facebook’s legal advisory team, regularly corrects him. He is trying to prep the CEO for the onslaught of hardball press and congressional inquiries soon to follow.
Sorkin began pitching a sequel to “The Social Network” soon after its release in 2010. He stated many times it wouldn’t happen unless David Fincher returned as director and Eisenberg reprised his Oscar-nominated turn as Zuckerberg. Although Eisenberg remained interested until 2023, Fincher was never on board. Against his previous declarations, Sorkin campaigned for and got the director gig.
Stick Just to Writing
Compared to the other movies Sorkin both wrote and directed (“Molly’s Game,” “The Trial of the Chicago Seven,” and “Being the Ricardos”), “The Social Reckoning” is the best of the lot, but it’s a low bar to clear. When Sorkin doesn’t direct, the movies he writes (“A Few Good Men,” “The American President,” “The Social Network,” and “Moneyball”) are all the better for it.
Making a sequel to “The Social Network” was a lose-lose proposition from the get-go, no matter who directed it (and that includes Fincher). All of the on-screen talent delivers the goods, but there’s just something missing.
Whatever its shortcomings, and there are several, it’s not the train wreck most critics are labeling it. It’s not great but it’s OK and worth seeing once and no more.
“The Social Reckoning” is now playing in theaters.
‘The Social Reckoning’
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Bill Burr
Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Release Date: Oct. 9, 2026
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars
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