Frances Haugen hopes The Social Reckoning inspires more whistleblowers

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen hopes The Social Reckoning will encourage others to speak out. The film, which opens in theaters Friday, features Oscar-winning actress Mikey Madison as a fictionalized Haugen and Jeremy Strong as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Haugen told The Verge she was mostly unfazed by Madison’s portrayal, though seeing the character wear wrist warmers reminded her how disruptive the accessories can be. She wears them to manage the effects of a vasoconstrictive disorder.

Five years after going public as the source behind the Facebook Files, Haugen hopes the film will humanize whistleblowing and remind viewers of the range of issues in the documents she disclosed. “Only about 10 percent of what I brought out was about kids,” she said. She said findings on extremist recommendations and special content moderation privileges for elite users have faded from public memory.

Haugen also hopes the story reaches people at AI labs who may face a decision to blow the whistle. She said debate over AI regulation and public dissent is further along than social media discussions were at a comparable stage, even though she considers some proposals, such as pausing development, simplistic or misdirected.

Meta declined to comment on the film. The company has previously said Haugen’s disclosed documents were cherry-picked and oversimplified difficult tradeoffs. Haugen also said the $17 billion settlement in lawsuits claiming Meta harmed young users grew from evidence she provided, although child safety was not her original focus.