Meta is trying every trick in the book to reduce attention to a memoir titled Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Facebook’s former director of global public policy, Sarah Wynn-Williams.
In the tell-it-all memoir, Wynn-Williams alleges Meta’s leadership retaliated against employees who raised concerns. According to the book:
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The Mark Zuckerberg company turned a blind eye to human rights issues. It was ready to implement data collection and censorship in accordance with the Chinese government if the app was allowed in China.
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The social media giant engaged in misconduct, specifically in claims of sexual harassment against Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief of global affairs.
In response, Meta called the book “false and defamatory” and stated Wynn-Williams was fired from Facebook “for poor performance and toxic behavior.”
It took legal action against the memoir publisher, Flatiron Books, which Macmillan Publishers owns. An arbitrator has ruled in favor of Meta, ordering the author to stop making disparaging remarks, retract past statements, and halt further promotion or publication of the book.
It’s unclear if the arbitrator can enforce the ruling, as the memoir remains available for purchase.
Meta has a history of aggressively countering whistleblowers. In 2018, it said Christopher Wylie, the political consultant exposing the Cambridge Analytica scandal, misappropriated data. It discredited the Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files investigative series in 2021.