Meta is once again facing allegations from a former employee that a growth-at-all-costs culture has caused offline harm.
A new book called “Careless People,” published Tuesday by former executive-turned-whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, provides a detailed account of her six years at the company, offering an insider’s perspective into controversial moments in the company’s history.
That includes Facebook being used to fuel political violence during the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, which the tech giant later admitted it didn’t do enough to prevent. It also discusses Facebook’s role in President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, as well as central characters in Meta’s business, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and newly appointed Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan.
Wynn-Williams joined what was then called Facebook in 2011 after working as a diplomat for New Zealand in Washington, DC. She worked her way up to director of global public policy but was fired in 2017, which the company said came after an investigation found that she’d made “unfounded” statements. Wynn-Williams implied in her book that she was fired in retaliation for reporting sexual harassment.
Meta has pushed back strongly on Wynn-Williams’ book. In a statement to CNN, Meta spokesperson Nkechi Nneji said the book contained both “out-of-date” claims and “false accusations about our executives” and called Wynn-Williams an “activist.”
“Eight years ago, Sarah Wynn-Williams was fired for poor performance and toxic behavior, and an investigation at the time determined she made misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment,” Nneji said. “Since then, she has been paid by anti-Facebook activists and this is simply a continuation of that work.”
Meta filed an arbitration demand against Wynn-Williams, stating that the claims made in her book violate a non-disparagement agreement she signed when she left the company. On Wednesday, an emergency arbitrator ruled that Meta was likely to succeed in its claim that the book violates Wynn-Williams’ non-disparagement agreement. The arbitrator temporarily ordered her not to make any “disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments” related to Meta and to stop promoting the book, among other demands, according to a legal filing shared by Meta spokesperson Andy Stone on X.
According to the filing, Wynn-Williams did not formally respond to the arbitration demand. CNN has reached out to her publisher for comment.
Wynn-Williams is just the latest former employee to come forward in recent years raising concerns about Meta’s culture, practices and leadership.
