“The Social Reckoning” recounts events from 2019-2021 where Facebook data engineer Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) met with Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) on several occasions to blow the whistle on Facebook deciding to change its algorithm despite knowing the update would favor controversial content.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie’s spiritual predecessor “The Social Network,” “The Social Reckoning” has powerful performances and classic Sorkin fast-paced, witty dialogue. However, it lacks a strong central thematic premise and feels more like a dramatization of real life-inspired incidences than a strung-together movie.
Nevertheless, the movie presents actual research data that all should consider while accessing the internet or using an app, especially when it comes to the types and validity of ads and stories being pushed to us by algorithms.
Beware the Algorithm
A common talking point in the movie is how 64% of individuals who join extremist groups on Facebook do so because of the social media platform’s own recommendation tools. It is discovered that in 2018 Facebook switched from the model of their algorithm favoring likes on posts to favoring reshares, weighting them to have 30 times the power of likes and with the knowledge that the most reshares come from controversial content.
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The organization made the switch due to their main user base becoming older and less interested in Facebook, and did so through a ranking system called “Meaningful Social Interactions” (MSI). The implications of the danger of MSI no doubt relate to our current concern of the rise of generative AI where we not only have to vet whether or not a source is lying to us, but also if the source is real or an AI creation made to look real.
In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XVI warns about deferring our judgement to algorithms made by humans who have ideological bias:
Indeed, entrusting an algorithm in practice with the power to select who is worthy or not, without anyone bearing responsibility for that judgment, is to hand over the task of redefining the boundaries of human possibilities. In this process, political responsibility is also lost, not just empathy toward those excluded, which can, after all, be simulated. The exclusion of the vulnerable becomes cloaked in a veneer of neutrality and objectivity, against which it becomes difficult to raise objections. In this way, injustice goes unnoticed, and compassion, mercy and forgiveness — understood not as mere appearances but as real political actions — gradually disappear from view (103).
The discernment of information being pushed through an algorithm reminds me of an old Russian proverb made famous during the 1980s Reagan-Gorbachev dialogues that goes, “Trust, but verify.” It seems in the age of MSI and generative AI that the phrase must be updated to, “Distrust, and verify.”
Culpability and Conscience
In addition to MSI, one main question raised in “The Social Reckoning” is if Facebook is responsible for censoring false information, especially political content, or if they should remain an open forum and the leave the culpability of vetting content to users. This question is brought to the forefront through the most combative exchange in the movie between Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) and former Facebook investor Charlie Garrigan (Bill Burr).
Zuckerberg stays firm in his stance as a “free speech absolutist” and in keeping Facebook a public square where he trusts the users to be informed, with the only exception being inciting imminent harm. Garrigan remains incredulous that Zuckerberg won’t fact-check political ads. The climax of their back-and-forth comes when the audience discovers the date is January 6, 2021, and they are interrupted by having to gather in a “war room” to respond to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. In an unprecedented move by Zuckerberg, he eventually directs his employees to suspend President Trump’s Facebook account.
While tech giants like Facebook’s Meta debate how they want to approach political content and as we Americans are inundated by political ads from all media outlets, we everyday citizens can independently equip ourselves to discern the validity of the information presented to us.
The Catholic Church does not instruct any person on how to vote, but the U.S. bishops have issued “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship”[1] as a way to help the faithful and all U.S. citizens have guiding principles while engaging in political life. The aims of the document can be summed up best by its seventeenth paragraph:
The Church equips its members to address political and social questions by helping them to develop a well-formed conscience. Catholics have a serious and lifelong obligation to form their consciences in accord with human reason and the teaching of the Church. Conscience is not something that allows us to justify doing whatever we want, nor is it a mere “feeling” about what we should or should not do. Rather, conscience is the voice of God resounding in the human heart, revealing the truth to us and calling us to do what is good while shunning what is evil.
Forming our consciences is as important as ever as a PEW research statistic presented in “The Social Reckoning” is 43% of adults regularly get their news from Facebook.
Where it succeeded
Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, and Bill Burr contribute strong performances. As stated, Sorkin’s use of fast-paced, witty dialogue is on full display in “The Social Reckoning” and the cast doesn’t miss a beat. Sorkin’s direction is also of note, and the balance between serious moments and comedic relief is done well.
The cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth, who also was the lead cinematographer for “The Social Network,” and score by Academy Award winning composer Alexandre Desplat enhance the urgency felt by the characters throughout the movie.
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Where it fell short
Although all the elements are there for a solid movie, the biggest miss of “The Social Reckoning” is minimal character growth throughout the film. One can argue that Frances grew in courage to speak in public about her concerns and that Mark learned that free speech has consequences. However, Frances was always trying to be heard and needed someone to listen, and Mark already knew the consequences of free speech.
One quiet omission from the movie is that the concern seems to be only towards those who have been swept up in “right-wing” extremist groups and not “left-wing” extremist groups. This, coupled by omitting President Trump’s name and only referring to him as “the sitting president” during the January 6 attack, shows the creator’s bias, which is ironic in a movie whose main characters have rhetoric about journalistic integrity.
Final Thoughts
“The Social Reckoning” will most likely have many nominations during award season, and I would not be surprised if it wins in multiple categories. The real-life events that inspired the movie are cinematic in-and-of-themselves, which could be why Sorkin chose to focus on dramatizing them.
The best use “The Social Reckoning” might be through using clips of the movie in media literacy classes for teenagers and above because the information given is well presented and raises important questions when it comes to online use. Teachers would have to be cautious while showing clips to teens because the movie is rated R for strong language.
[1] https://www.usccb.org/resources/forming-consciences-for-faithful-citizenship.pdf
