One imagines a third film will be in the works any day now.
The Social Reckoning isn't really a straightforward sequel to The Social Network, despite its title and similar marketing push. Instead, like a social media spin on All the President's Men, it chronicles the Wall Street Journal's investigation into Facebook, which culminated in the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2022 series "The Facebook Files," which revealed that the company knew how badly Instagram affected teen girls' mental health, and that Facebook's algorithm pushed users towards extremist content.
While The Social Reckoning lacks The Social Network's sharp direction and imminently listenable score, writer and director Aaron Sorkin (who wrote the first film) succeeds at making a movie that champions old-school journalism, while also shining a light on the severe moral rot behind Facebook. As Meta is trying to push its way further into our lives with its Muse AI assistant and creepy surveillance glasses, and is potentially on the hook for a $40 billion fine after lying about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, The Social Reckoning is yet another reminder of why we shouldn't trust it.
The film follows Jeff Horowitz (Jeremy Allen White), an investigative reporter with little tech experience, but a relentless desire to figure out what's driving Facebook. He eventually makes contact with Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), a Facebook engineer working in its Civic Integrity Team, who discovers that Facebook helped radicalize her formerly progressive friend into a white supremacist. ) Haugen is a true believer of the tech industry's mission to connect the world, but becomes disillusioned as that mission drifts toward engagement at any cost .
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