When “The Social Reckoning” hit box offices on Friday, it was met with undeniably high audience expectations. With advertisements labeling it as a “companion piece” to the critically acclaimed “The Social Network” (2010), early criticism for new film seemed almost inevitable. The 2010 modern classic, directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, won three Academy Awards and was widely acclaimed as one of the defining films of the decade. Even if it’s not a true sequel, “The Social Reckoning” certainly follows in the shadow of its reputation.
The story follows whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), whose realization that Facebook was misleading the public leads to the Wall Street Journal’s 2021 investigative series “The Facebook Files.” Haugen is a data scientist on Facebook’s Civic Integrity team and a true believer in Facebook’s power to connect people — until she finds out that the company is driving political extremism to boost user engagement. That’s when Haugen is approached by investigative reporter Jeff Horowitz (Jeremy Allen White), who has just begun covering Facebook for The Journal.
Its framing makes “The Social Reckoning” a journalism-focused movie that’s more akin to “The Post” (2017) or “Snowden” (2016) than its predecessor. Sorkin redirects our attention to Haugen’s disillusionment and departure from Facebook. It’s perhaps meant to mirror our own rude awakening to the issues discussed in the film — Meta’s deliberate promotion of disinformation, rage bait, conspiracy and extremist groups.
Except, none of this is new. A major disadvantage of “The Social Reckoning” is the fact that we already know the outcome and have lived through the consequences. I won’t be the first to say that the story feels outdated and limited in scope.
So why does this film feel like too little too late?
There are many ways Sorkin could have reintroduced us to the subject of Facebook, and Haugen’s perspective could have been a compelling way forward. The problem is that the script withholds Haugen’s character’s depth and personal experience as a Facebook employee. The generic picture of corporate greed and indifference shows us what we already assume the company’s leadership looks like.
The catalyst for Haugen’s contribution to the investigation, which jeopardizes her career, is a video she finds of her friend who had been radicalized by Facebook’s algorithm. She claims that she does this to help Facebook and that she still believes in its ability to connect people. But her choice to leave the company and eventually put her name on the record — which feels like a major turning point — is reduced to the idea that Facebook’s leadership would find out she was the one leaking documents anyway.
“The Social Network” is set about 20 years before “The Social Reckoning” but stands the test of time because it is, at its core, an exploration of timeless themes of class, jealousy and betrayal. The movie suggests that Facebook’s founding was Zuckerberg’s window into social exclusivity, to build a social arena where he was in control. The Zuckerberg of “The Social Network” was, in some ways, the portrait of an angry adolescent out for blood, armed with a punk attitude and undeniable genius.
There’s something reductive about the new film’s overhaul of character depth that feeds into the David and Goliath of it all — public interest versus private corporation — failing to show us anything more nuanced.
In the new film, Sorkin tries to prove its importance by grounding itself in the dramatization of the events surrounding the narrative, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection. Yet even with the slow-motion montage of rioters at the Capitol, the “Social Reckoning” feels more biographical than dramatic, as it recounts the events of our recent memory.
And, partly due to its asymmetrical storyline that cuts between 2019 and 2021, it feels more like we’re waiting very patiently for Haugen to approach Horowitz with every lead. We are as frustrated as she is when she pushes him to, well, investigate them. You can feel the film’s ethos reaching toward “All the President’s Men” (1976), widely recognized as the journalism movie of all journalism movies. But we are left grasping for the thrill and suspense of watching Woodward in the pitch-black parking lot as his source tells him to “follow the money.”
Nonetheless, “The Social Reckoning,” through Madison’s character, asks how we should be speaking truth to power, a question we should be trying to answer today. The sheer relevance of “The Social Reckoning” is still notable, considering how high-profile whistleblowers from OpenAI have recently sparked conversations about the company leadership’s irresponsibility in handling the development of artificial intelligence. While this film is not the anticipated sequel to “The Social Network,” Luca Guadagnino's “Artificial” might be. Here’s to hoping.
