Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin revealed in a New York Times op-ed Thursday that Facebook executives specifically requested that the social media giant not be called Facebook in his 2010 screenplay, The Social Network. Sorkin's article was written as a direct response to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's unwavering defense of Facebook's free speech policy.
Sorkin's Academy Award-winning screenplay for the film detailed Zuckerberg's burgeoning rise as a household name and Facebook founder as well as the resulting chaos that erupted from the Winklevoss brothers' lawsuit after they alleged Zuckerberg had stolen their idea. Zuckerberg claimed at the time the movie came out that many aspects of the film were embellished.
According to Sorkin's New York Times op-ed, every effort was made in production phases of the film to "not get sued by Zuckerberg."
"Even after the screenplay for 'The Social Network' satisfied the standards of Sony’s legal department, we sent the script — as promised over a handshake — to a group of senior lieutenants at your company and invited them to give notes. (I was asked if I would change the name of Harvard University to something else and if Facebook had to be called Facebook.)"
Sorkin ultimately chose not to acquiesce the company's request, and went into detail about how Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg criticized him after viewing a pre-cut of the film. "How could you do this to a kid?" She asked Sorkin, referring to Zuckerberg (who was 26 at the time.) Sorkin drew from his experiences with the company in the past to strengthen his critique on their stances on free speech in the present, reiterating that while the company was always quick to protect the integrity of their own people and call out lies against them, they neglected to apply the same concern for the own users who could be negatively impacted by outright lies posted on social media.
Zuckerberg defended his decision to allow false political ads on Facebook recently while testifying before a congressional committee. Responding to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's similar concern about the lack of fact checking in political ads Zuckerberg argued that users had the right to determine what was true or false. The Facebook founder maintains that his company has no right to act as a free-speech filter for the network's more than one billion active users. Responding to Sorkin's op-ed in kind, Zuckerberg used the writer's own words against him in a post on his Facebook page. Zuckerberg posted a well known quote straight from one of Sorkin's earlier screenplays, The American President, about how "America isn't easy, America is advanced citizenship, you gotta want it bad because it's going to put up a fight."
Despite the recent critiques from Sorkin and other figures in the political and creative sphere, Facebook continues to be the most widely used social media platform worldwide and now even has its own lineup of streaming shows. Sorkin's main concern about the dangers of false truths masquerading as lies in the global echo chamber of Facebook may be well founded, but Zuckerberg has the power of sheer numbers on his side.
Source: The New York Times