There was a time when you had to be a college student to have a Facebook profile. The website was simply a way of connecting people in schools across the country. When the site became open to absolutely anyone, it became a social platform in ways that exceeded anyone’s expectations. The famous site has become a hotbed of controversy with its ability to allow anyone to speak and post about whatever their heart desires and whatever comes to mind, regardless of public courtesy or discretion. David Fincher’s The Social Network explored the sinister roots of the site’s genesis and its rapid growth. Now, Aaron Sorkin has taken to the task of following up on his script with a sequel of sorts, exploring the unwavering influence it has on its users.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Sorkin broke the news of his work-in-progress when he appeared on the “live from DC” edition of The Town podcast. The West Wing creator stated,
Look, yeah, I’ll be writing about this. I blame Facebook for January 6.”
When a follow-up inquiry was made about why he blames Facebook, he responded, “You’re going to need to buy a movie ticket.” Sorkin was then asked if he meant he was writing it specifically as a feature film; he replied, “I’m trying. Facebook has been, among other things, tuning its algorithm to promote the most divisive material possible. Because that is what will increase engagement. That is what will get you to — what they call inside the hallways of Facebook — ‘the infinite scroll’ … There’s supposed to be a constant tension at Facebook between growth and integrity. There isn’t. There’s just growth. If Mark Zuckerberg woke up tomorrow morning and realized there is nothing you can buy for $120 billion that you can’t buy for $119 billion dollars, ‘So how about if I make a little bit less money? I will tune up integrity and tune down growth.’ Yes, you can do that by switching a one to a zero.”
Sorkin was working on a script about the events of January 6th, but that project did not end up moving forward. He had always thought about doing a sequel to The Social Network that would expose more of the “dark side” of Facebook, especially if he was able to reunite with David Fincher on the project. In 2020, Sorkin told the Happy Sad Confused podcast, “People have been talking to me about [a sequel] because of what we’ve discovered is the dark side of Facebook. Do I want to write that movie? Yeah I do. I will only write it if [David Fincher] directs it. If Billy Wilder came back from the grave and said he wanted to direct it, I’d say I’d only do it with David.”