The Social Network helped define a generation of tech founders when it premiered in 2010: Written by Aaron Sorkin, it tells the story of Facebook’s founding by an ambitious, jilted college kid who imposes his will on the world.
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who → define → world
Now, in The Social Reckoning, Sorkin focuses on the ills of the company Facebook eventually became.
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Facebook → focus → company
He tells the story through the lens of Frances Haugen, a former employee who demonstrated through a trove of internal documents, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, that Facebook’s algorithm was stoking political division, that Instagram was contributing to body-image issues for teen girls, and that the company’s platforms were being used by drug dealers and human traffickers.
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platforms → tell → dealers
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied his company, rebranded as Meta after Haugen’s leak, prioritized profit over safety.
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company → deny → safety
Mikey Madison, fresh off her Oscar for Anora, plays Haugen in the film.
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Madison → play → film
Madison and Haugen sat with TIME for their first interview together.
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Madison → sit → interview
Mikey, you and Frances have not had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together.
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you → have → time
How much is the Frances of the film based on the real Frances?
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Frances → base → Frances
When I got the script, I knew about the Facebook Files, but I didn’t know Frances’ name.
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I → get → name
So I looked her up, and I was like, “She’s blonde and has blue eyes.
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She → look → eyes
Why does Aaron want me for this?”
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Aaron → want → this
And he said, “I want you to try and build the character from my script.”
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you → say → script
But of course I read her memoir and tried to do my due diligence because there was so much I didn’t understand.
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I → read → diligence
I don’t have a personal relationship with social media at all.
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I → have → media
Is there a reason you don’t have social media?
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you → have → media
It’s just something that never quite stuck.
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that → ’ → ?
It’s something I never felt I could understand.
uncertain
I → ’ → ?
When I was 13, I had an Instagram, but it kind of lived and died at that time and not for any particular reason or self-preservation.
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it → have → reason
Frances, Aaron reached out to you about the script.
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Aaron → reach → script
I first met Aaron a few months after I came forward as a whistleblower, and he wanted to figure out if it was possible to do a companion piece to The Social Network.
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it → meet → Network
After my memoir came out, he came back to me with this heavily underlined, sticky-noted, dog-eared copy.
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he → come → copy
He writes notoriously fast-talking characters.
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He → write → characters
Mikey, how did you prep for the Sorkin rhythm?
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you → prep → rhythm
I don’t know if much can prepare you for that.
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much → know → that
I’m not someone who naturally speaks in that rhythmic way.
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who → ’m → way
I don’t know anyone who does, except for maybe Aaron.
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who → know → Aaron
It’s singular to his sensibilities as a screenwriter.
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It → ’ → screenwriter
I keep joking that Aaron has this internal stopwatch in his head.
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Aaron → keep → head
Every period, every comma is incredibly intentional, and the space between is timed, and we’re on a deadline.
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we → time → deadline
The first day on set, after seven or eight takes, he came in and was like, ‘OK, we’re starting to cook with a bit of gas here.’
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we → come → gas
That’s hard.
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That → ’ → ?
But I also think it created a certain intensity.
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it → think → intensity
[Wall Street Journal reporter] Jeff [Horwitz] and I are both chatty people who talk quickly, so you do capture the excitement of when we were in the weeds.
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we → talk → weeds
Meta reached an $18 billion settlement in August, ending a multi-state lawsuit that alleged it got teens hooked on social media while jeopardizing their mental health.
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teens → reach → health
Meta did not admit to any wrongdoing.
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Meta → admit → wrongdoing
We’re only in the first chapter of the settlements.
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We → ’re → settlements
We still have two major sets of settlements to go just in the United States.
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We → have → States
The school districts are bringing very large suits, which I’m expecting to have dollar values north of $100 billion, maybe $200 billion.
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I → bring → billion
And then we have the individual kids and family lawsuits.
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we → have → lawsuits
So far, we’ve only had one resolve, but it was $6 million to a single person.
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it → have → person
…and 39 more, not listed.
The Aporia
