When The Social Network was released back in 2010, it quickly became something of a modern classic.

Aaron Sorkin's script, David Fincher's direction, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's score and Jesse Eisenberg's central performance as Mark Zuckerberg all combined to create a film that continues to be regarded as one of the defining movies of the 21st century.

But the story of Zuckerberg – and Facebook – was from over at that point. And now, more than 15 years later, Sorkin has returned to the Meta CEO for a new film that tackles the way social media has continued to evolve since.

The Social Reckoning dramatises – and lightly fictionalises – the story behind The Wall Street Journal's 2021 investigative series The Facebook Files, with The Bear's Jeremy Allen White starring as reporter Jeff Horwitz and Oscar-winning Anora star Mikey Madison playing data engineer turned whistleblower Frances Haugen.

As the film explains, the investigation exposed the fact that Facebook had been aware of a number of issues on both the platform and Instagram – which it also owns – but had showed a lack of willingness to correct them.

Those concerns included the fact that a number of people were being pushed to join extremist groups by the site's algorithm, which favoured inflammatory posts, and that misinformation was rapidly spreading on the site without being properly fact-checked, crucially including political ads.

Shortly after the investigation was published, Zuckerberg responded in a 2021 earnings call by saying: "My view is that what we're seeing is a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our company."

Although White had been broadly familiar with the case ahead of taking on the role, he told Radio Times at the film's world premiere in London that he was shocked when he looked into the background further.

"It certainly reinforced a lot of the feelings that I already had," he explained during an exclusive interview. "[But] I became far more familiar after reading the script and in my preparation."

He continued: "I think what shocked me most, and maybe what I didn't fully comprehend at the time when all this was actually happening, was Facebook's knowledge of all of it. Their detailed knowledge.

"Their detailed knowledge of really everything that goes on, and how they weren't willing to give up even a small, small percentage of their engagement or interaction, even if it was causing incredible damage and had major fallout."

White added that he had hoped there might have been more ignorance on Facebook's part, but that it had become clear that "they knew exactly what was being done".

In the film, Zuckerberg is played by Succession star Jeremy Strong – with whom White previously collaborated in last year's Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere – although the two stars don't share any scenes.

Meanwhile, the supporting cast also includes key roles for Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku, The Franchise's Billy Magnusson and comedian Bill Burr.

The Social Reckoning is out now in cinemas.

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