‘The Social Reckoning’ has a disturbing problem — Facebook barely shocks us anymore: Review
‘The Social Reckoning’ has a disturbing problem — Facebook barely shocks us anymore: Review
Elisabetta BianchiniWed, October 7, 2026 at 6:31 PM UTC
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A lot has changed since The Social Network was released in 2010, directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Meaning that there has been a lot for Sorkin to mine for The Social Reckoning, starring Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, and Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg.
The new film moves far beyond a Harvard dorm room and into the behemoth that became Facebook (now Meta). But what is actually most affecting is the lack of impact The Social Reckoning has when you watch this story unfold.
The Social Reckoning release date: Oct. 9 in theatresCast: Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen, Bill Burr and Jeremy StrongDirector & Writer: Aaron SorkinRuntime: 1 hour, 52 minutes
What is ‘The Social Reckoning’ about
The Social Reckoning is centred around the lead up to The Wall Street Journal publishing “The Facebook Files” in 2021, a series of investigative articles, with reporting led by Jeff Horwitz (played by White), based on a number of internal documents and reports from Facebook.
The information came from whistleblower Frances Haugen (Madison), an engineer at Facebook who came to Horwitz with the problems within the company, specifically related to the spread of misinformation, harmful content and hate speech on the platform.
Haugen believes in Facebook, as she says repeatedly to Horwitz, hoping that his reporting will make the impact that forces the company’s hand to address the fact that their quest for “Meaningful Social Interactions” has led to the algorithm amplifying misinformation and radicalization.
Meanwhile, with Strong as Zuckerberg, we see him rehearsing for a congressional hearing, specifically about how Facebook’s role in misinformation spreading on social media, being guided by crisis PR expert Raya (Wunmi Mosaku) and Charlie Garrigan, a former investor who pushes Zuckerberg to face the very real criticism that will be coming his way.
The Social Reckoning: Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison (Leah Gallo/Sony Pictures)An unsettling reality check
It may actually be too early to evaluate the impact of The Social Reckoning, because it’s a story crafted about a point in time that we’re currently living in an extension of, compared to origin story explored in The Social Network.
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The reality is that The Social Reckoning is a film that could, eventually, be a poignant look at what happens when we ignore or are careless about the impact of a platform like Facebook, including its ability to quickly radicalize people online. Or it will be a movie that’s largely forgotten as the scandals continue to pile up.
But that’s not to say that The Social Reckoning doesn’t achieve anything. It is straightforward, but will still rile you up.
And if you’ve generally been a fan of Sorkin’s dialogue, you won’t be disappointed here. It’s filled with those rapid and sharp lines we’ve come to expect.
One of the strongest showcases of the success of the dialogue is in the confrontations between Strong and Burr, really leaning into the tension of this power dynamic as Zuckerberg defends Facebook’s actions, or in some cases the company’s lack of action.
Madison continues to show both her range as an actor and her ability to really lead a film. Her character is the person we feel the most invested in as she battles her love of and belief in technology, and Facebook’s overarching missions statement, with the alarming realities she’s seeing in the world.
Strong really leans into the robotic nature of Zuckerberg, but the real core of this story rests with Haugen.
It does feel impossible to be completely satisfied watching The Social Reckoning. The events of the film happened, and we haven’t seen the real-world impact, things have actually gotten worse to the point where the film feels inconsequential.
That brings up the question of whether it was too soon to look at this point in recent history, but Sorkin also exposes the dark reality that we can watch a recreation of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack and individuals quickly being lured into extremist groups, and it feels like it doesn’t have impact.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
