Everything The Social Network Got Wrong About The True Story

The Social Network opens with Mark getting dumped by his girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara). Upset over the breakup, Mark goes back to his Harvard dorm room and blogs about Erica, including many insulting remarks about her. Soon after blogging, Mark begins working on a website called Facemash, created to compare the physical features of female campus students, after hacking into the university’s database. The website blows up in popularity, grabbing the attention of twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer). They approach Mark about helping them with a social networking site exclusive to Harvard students. Mark agrees to help them, but instead works on his own similar project, which becomes Facebook.

In reality, the origins of the site were not the same. It’s true that Zuckerberg wrote a negative blog post about a woman who may or may not have been an ex-girlfriend — although they changed the name mentioned in his post for the film — and he did create Facemash, which was taken down by Harvard and led to Zuckerberg facing expulsion (via SlashFilm and ScreenRant). However, according to Vanity Fair, Facemash used photos of both men and women for attractiveness comparisons.

During a Q&A session, Zuckerberg claims he did not create Facebook to “attract girls.” He brings up how he’s known his wife, Priscilla Chan, since before he started Facebook. If he had the same motivations as  the film portrays, his wife likely wouldn’t have continued dating him or eventually marry him. According to the Vanity Fair piece, this statement is true: Zuckerberg started dating Chan in 2003, which is the year the film begins. In the Q&A, Zuckerberg insists he made Facebook because he wanted to “help connect the world.”