Writer-director Aaron Sorkin explained why President Donald Trump’s name is omitted from his upcoming film examining Facebook’s influence on political discourse, including in the lead-up to the Jan.6, 2021, Capitol riot.When asked by Politico why Trump is not mentioned, Sorkin said he believed the president’s inclusion would become an unwelcome "distraction," adding that it was his decision to keep his name out of the film and that he wanted "clean hands.""I felt like as soon as we got to that scene, as soon as you saw anything ‘Trump,’ it would just become about something else," Sorkin told the outlet.
"Again, I realize it’s going to kind of become about that ‘something else’ anyway.But I just like to have clean hands."'THE SOCIAL RECKONING' TRAILER DROPS WITH JEREMY STRONG AS ZUCKERBERG IN AARON SORKIN'S FACEBOOK SEQUELAaron Sorkin speaks onstage at the 38th Annual American Cinematheque Awards at The Beverly Hilton on Dec.
6, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California.(Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)"The Social Reckoning," set to premiere in theaters Oct.
9, 2026, is a companion piece to Sorkin’s 2010 film "The Social Network," which chronicled the rise of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.The new movie follows whistleblower Frances Haugen, who provided internal Facebook documents to The Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, which became the basis for the outlet's "Facebook Files" series examining the company's internal research and practices. The documents, published as part of a 2021 investigative series for the Journal, included internal research and findings about political polarization and the effects of Instagram on some young users' mental health.Sorkin acknowledged that the film is "political" but argued that it is "not a red-blue thing."BIPARTISAN LAWMAKERS WANT TO STRIP BIG TECH'S LEGAL IMMUNITY THAT CAN SHIELD SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIESMark Zuckerberg walks through the U.S.Capitol after a meeting on March 26, 2026. (Tom Willia...