The Social Network: Is it a true story?

Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg

The Social Network was adapted from a book called "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. The book is a work of fiction based on a series of embellished and fabricated events. For example, Mark Zuckerberg did collaborate on a website called ConnectU with the Winklevoss twins, who sued him back in 2004. However, Zuckerberg's girlfriend, Erica Albright, shown at the beginning of the film dumping Mark, is entirely fictitious. The film's negative portrayal of Zuckerberg is largely due to the book being from the perspective of Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, who did actually file a lawsuit against Facebook because of differences of opinion with Mark.

Other events were dramatized by the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, such as the relationship between Mark and Sean Parker. The real Sean Parker stated in 2011 that “The part of the movie that frustrated me is actually the scene at the end where the character played by Justin Timberlake — who happens to have my name — basically writes a check to Eduardo – who I’m also, I consider Eduardo a friend of mine, and I’m one of the few people at Facebook who still interacts with Eduardo – and throws it in his face and has security escort him out of the building. And I mean, that’s just rude. This guy in the movie is a morally reprehensible human being.”

Zuckerberg has said that the biggest difference between the movie and real life stems from the fact that filmmakers "can't wrap their head around the idea that someone might build something because they like building things." It is debatable whether Mark is really as ruthless as he is portrayed in the film, but the fact is that he did make a few enemies along the way.