‘The Social Network’ star Jesse Eisenberg just dropped the mic on how he feels about Mark Zuckerberg

Jesse Eisenberg played a flip-flop and hoodie-wearing Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 Aaron Sorkin movie The Social Network, and now he’s got some (clever and spot-on) thoughts about the Facebook founder.

When interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 show Today, Eisenberg said Zuckerberg is “doing things that are problematic — taking away fact-checking and safety concerns, making people who are already threatened in this world more threatened.” The actor also said that rather than have certain opinions because he portrayed Zuckerberg over 10 years ago, he says these things because he’s “a human being” and “a person who reads a newspaper.”

Eisenberg mentioned Meta’s $1 million donation to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund and the terrible decision to stop fact-checking on Meta. The actor said it’s horrible for billionaires to suck up to other rich people and not use their money to help the people who need it. He also mentioned that his wife is a disability justice teacher, and that her students will be directly impacted by Trump’s policies.

However, the most memorable thing Eisenberg said about Zuckerberg? “I don’t want to think of myself as associated with somebody like that.” Imagine feeling that way about someone you once played in a hit movie! The Zuckerberg of today is arguably very different from the one Eisenberg portrayed in the 2010 movie. Playing the Facebook founder then meant digging into his awkward nerd vibe. Sure, the Zuckerberg of The Social Network wasn’t totally without his faults. After all, the movie is framed around the Winklevoss twins’ belief that Zuckerberg stole the concept of the social networking site from them. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra sued, but the lawsuit was settled for $65 million.

But, back in the day, Facebook was a place for college party photos, awkward status updates about lunch orders and favorite songs, and relatives who posted baby pictures. Now those same relatives share conspiracy theories about politics and vaccines. That got worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, of course, but now it’s all about raw milk, getting rid of food dyes, and whatever else wellness influencers are attempting to convince everyone to believe in. Remember when everyone was frustrated when the Facebook home page layout changed again and it was impossible to know where to post a status update or comment on a friend’s wall? (Remember when “walls” were even a thing?) Given the real-world problems of political manipulation and misinformation, those grievances feel tiny now.

Eisenberg talked about Zuckerberg in a recent NPR Fresh Air interview and said actors “defend” and “understand” the people they play because that’s what this career entails. He explained that when he filmed The Social Network, Zuckerberg’s aspirations seemed “wonderful and totally defensible” since Zuckerberg “created this thing in order to connect with other people because he felt uncomfortable connecting with other people through more traditional social norms.” But now, Eisenberg is “a little bit sad” and doesn’t know why Zuckerberg is making the choices that he is.

After years of people wondering if there was more to The Social Network story, in April 2024, Sorkin said he was going to write a sequel because of Jan. 6. But would Eisenberg play the Facebook founder again? Last year, he said he’d be cool with it. Whether or not he still would, there’s more than enough content to fill another movie, thanks to Meta halting fact-checking and all the other issues with wealthy tech bros. A sequel would definitely get people talking.