The Social Network (2010) – Frequently Asked Questions – IMDb

This seems to be a matter of some debate. Mark Zuckerberg claims that the movie is almost entirely fictional except in the broadest sense that he, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin created Facebook while students at Harvard. In particular he disputes implications that his desire for revenge on an ex-girlfriend or to get into a Final Club influenced the creation of Facebook. And of course he denies that the Winklevoss twins or Divya Narendra had any hand in inspiring the creation of Facebook. Instead he insists that the real creation story is much more boring and banal—one where the idea for the site was devised over a long period of rumination rather than as part of one creative brainstorm. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher insist that the film is very accurate. Sorkin has even said that it is not fictional at all, merely dramatized. Much of the film is based on testimony given at a number of depositions related to the lawsuits brought by Eduardo Saverin, the Winklevoss twins, and Divya Narendra. To this extent, the film might be considered very accurate. However, as the character Mark points out in the film, people do lie in depositions.

The general outlines of the story are part of the public record. Mark Zuckerberg hacked into various student facebooks while a student at Harvard and created the Facemash. He narrowly escaped expulsion for his prank. Sometime later he, Eduardo Saverin, and Dustin Moskovitz created Facebook. Moskovitz and Zuckerberg moved the company to Palo Alto while Saverin stayed in New York. First Sean Parker and then Peter Thiel were brought in as partners and Eduardo Saverin either left or was forced out as CFO. During this time Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra sued Zuckerberg and Facebook for stealing their idea. One notable change made for the film is that the film totally ignores Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan. The film makes Zuckerberg out to be a lonely socially-maladroit nerd who has casual sex with groupies but no meaningful relationships and, even at the height of his power, is still pining away for his college girlfriend. In reality, Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan began dating in their sophomore year at Harvard, around the same time Mark was creating Facebook, and have been together ever since, marrying in 2012.

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