The trailer for Aaron Sorkin's upcoming political thriller The Social Reckoning is out, featuring the real-life story of Frances Haugen, a former Facebook engineer who exposed the company's prioritization of profit over user safety.
Haugen, born in Iowa City, Iowa, holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Olin College and an MBA from Harvard University. She worked on ranking algorithms at Google, Pinterest, Yelp, and Facebook before joining the Civic Misinformation team at Facebook in 2019.
In 2021, Haugen leaked over 21,000 internal documents, revealing how Facebook's executives were aware of the harm Instagram and Facebook were causing to young people but did little to stop it. The documents formed the basis of The Facebook Files, a bombshell investigative series published by The Wall Street Journal.
Haugen's actions led to investigations, lawsuits, and a rebranding of Facebook as Meta. She has since founded an NGO called Beyond the Screen and written a book about her experience.
The Social Reckoning, starring Mikey Madison as Haugen, is set for a theatrical release in the US on October 9, 2026, and is generating Oscar buzz.
