Sorkin's film oversimplifies social media woes, missing deeper profit-driven harms

In *The Social Reckoning*, Aaron Sorkin stages a mock congressional hearing where Mark Zuckerberg, portrayed by Jeremy Strong, is coached by a crisis-communications expert before facing a fictional interrogator modeled on early Facebook investor Roger McNamee. The reviewer contends that the film treats the problem of harmful content as a matter of simple moral courage, urging more censorship, while sidestepping the deeper, profit-centric mechanisms that make platforms addictive.

Citing Frances Haugen’s call for algorithmic tweaks and transparency, the analysis highlights how attention-extraction, short-form video, and persuasive technology design are the real drivers of user harm. It also warns that the data generated by these interactions feed AI systems, amplifying future risks. Ultimately, the piece sees Sorkin’s narrative as an ideological shortcut that distracts from the systemic exploitation embedded in social media business models.