Latest news with #GreedandLostIdealism
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Author of explosive Meta memoir to star at US Senate hearing
The former Facebook employee behind a scathing book about parent company Meta will testify Wednesday before US senators keen to establish whether the social networking giant ever collaborated with the Chinese government. Former global policy director Sarah Wynn-Williams has alleged the company explored the possibility of breaking into the lucrative Chinese market by appeasing Beijing's government censors. Meta communications director Andy Stone told AFP the company "ultimately decided not to go through with the ideas we'd explored." The company's family of apps is currently blocked in China. Wynn-Williams's testimony at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing will focus on Meta's foreign relations moves and on what its executives have previously told Congress. Of particular interest at Wednesday's hearing, headed by Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, is whether Wynn-Williams contradicts what Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has stated under oath during past congressional hearings. Wynn-Williams's book, "Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism," was released on March 11 and became a hot seller despite Meta winning an arbitration court order barring the author from promoting the work or making derogatory statements about the company. Her book recounts working at the tech titan from 2011 to 2017 and includes claims of sexual harassment by longtime company executive Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and ally of President Donald Trump who took over as head of Meta's global affairs team this year. Meta took the matter to arbitration, contending the book violates a non-disparagement contract signed by Wynn-Williams when she worked with the company's global affairs team. Stone said Wynn-Williams was "fired for poor performance and toxic behavior," having made a series of allegations that the company investigated and found to be unfounded. "Careless People" ranks second on a New York Times bestseller list of nonfiction books, with another title highly critical of Meta close behind. "The Anxious Generation," which paints a dark picture of social media's effect on children, is currently fourth on the Times bestseller list, a year after its release. gc/arp/sla/aha
Express Tribune
22-03-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Book slams Meta, tops bestseller list
A scathing book about Facebook parent company Meta, whose author has been barred from promoting her work, entered at the top of the New York Times bestseller list after its first week of release in the United States. The book also ranks fourth on Amazon's bestseller list, the platform showed on Thursday. In Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism, which was released on March 11, Sarah Wynn-Williams recounts working at the tech titan from 2011 to 2017. Wynn-Williams's book includes claims of sexual harassment by longtime company executive Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and ally of President Donald Trump who took over as head of Meta's global affairs team this year. She also wrote of Meta, then known as Facebook, exploring the possibility of breaking into the lucrative Chinese market by appeasing government censors there. Meta quickly took the matter to arbitration, contending the book violates a non-disparagement contract signed by Wynn-Williams when she worked with the company's global affairs team. An arbitration court granted Meta's request to bar Wynn-Williams from promoting the book or making derogatory statements about the company. She also must retract previous critical comments about Meta or its executives, according to the ruling, which remains in place until the dispute is settled in the private arbitration process. "This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn-Williams' false and defamatory book should never have been published," Meta communications director Andy Stone said at the time in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Stone said Wynn-Williams was "fired for poor performance and toxic behavior," having made a series of unfounded allegations that the company investigated. Another book that is highly critical of Meta, The Anxious Generation, which paints a dark picture of social media's effect on children, is currently fourth on the Times best-seller list a year after its release. AFP
South China Morning Post
19-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Who is Meta whistle-blower Sarah Wynn-Williams? The former New Zealand diplomat used to work with ‘careless people' Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook, and just released a tell-all memoir
Meta has successfully barred a former Facebook employee from promoting or further distributing copies of her tell-all memoir Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism, as reported by the BBC. Sarah Wynn-Williams with her former boss, Mark Zuckerberg (centre). Photo: Sarah Wynn-Williams Facebook's parent company said the emergency ruling affirms that 'the false and defamatory book should never have been published'. Wynn-Williams, who used to be the company's global public policy director, alleges sexual harassment and human rights failures in her book, per NBC News. Meta has disputed the allegations. Advertisement In a statement, a spokesperson for the UK publisher Macmillan said: 'As publishers, we are committed to upholding freedom of speech and her right to tell her story. Due to legal process instituted by Meta, the author has been prevented from continuing to participate in the book's publicity.' Here's what we know about Sarah Wynn-Williams and her book. Where is Sarah Wynn-Williams from? Sarah Wynn-Williams hails from New Zealand. Photo: World Economic Forum Wynn-Williams was born and raised in New Zealand, according to The New York Times. After working with the United Nations, she became a diplomat at her country's embassy in Washington. She is also an international lawyer, having earned a BA in political science, international relations and diplomacy from the University of Canterbury and a Master of Laws from Victoria University, per the World Economic Forum. What did Sarah Wynn-Williams do at Facebook? Sarah Wynn-Williams was previously a diplomat. Photo: Flatiron Books
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta strives to stifle ex-employee memoir
Meta wants to derail a freshly released memoir by a former employee whose scandalous allegations the tech giant argues are untrue and should never have been published. In "Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism", Sarah Wynn-Williams recounts working at the tech titan from 2011 to 2017. Her book includes claims of sexual harassment by Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and ally of President Donald Trump who took over as head of Meta's international affairs team early this year. She also wrote of Meta, then known as Facebook, exploring the possibility of breaking into the lucrative China market by appeasing government censors in that country. "The suggestion was that as part of the negotiations for the company to enter into China, the data of users in Hong Kong could be put in play," Wynn-Williams said in an interview with NPR. An idea was to flag content in Hong Kong or Taiwan that went "viral" and refer it to a censorship body for review, according to Wynn-Williams. "It's no secret we were interested in China; we explore lots of ideas," Meta communications director Andy Stone said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "You know what didn't happen? We didn't start offering our services in China." Meta took its opposition to the memoir to arbitration, contending that it violates a non-disparagement contract Wynn-Williams signed when she worked with the tech company's global affairs team. - Talk nice - An arbitration court this week granted Meta's request to bar Wynn-Williams from promoting her book, sending the dispute to private negotiations about settling the case. "This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn-Williams' false and defamatory book should never have been published," Stone said on X. Wynn-Williams was "fired for poor performance and toxic behavior," having made a series of unfounded allegations that the company investigated, Stone said in an X post. The order by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution does stop the publisher from distributing copies of the memoir released on Tuesday. Emergency Arbitrator Nicholas Gowan noted that Wynn-Williams did not appear for a hearing held prior to the ruling. The order bars Wynn-Williams from further promoting her book or making derogatory remarks about Meta, and from promoting her book. And Wynn-Williams must retract previous critical comments about Meta or its executives, the ruling states. Gowan noted that the ruling did not address the merits of the case. Neither Wynn-Williams nor her publisher responded to requests for comment. Meta's access to data of billions of users around the world makes it a target for investigations and accusations, from a Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018 to revelations in 2021 by a whistleblower that it put profit over the well-being of users. Recently, Meta has been criticized for stepping back from workplace diversity efforts and from battling misinformation in an apparent alignment with Trump. Meta early this year announced it was replacing its fact-checking program, of which AFP was a part, with "community notes". gc/sms
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Arbitrator sides with Meta in bid to halt sales of ex-employee's memoir
An arbitrator has sided with Meta in its case against a former employee who made a series of misconduct allegations about the Facebook and Instagram parent company in a memoir published this week. The memoir, 'Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism' by Sarah Wynn-Williams, was published Tuesday. It details claims of sexual harassment and incomplete statements by Meta executives to Congress about Facebook's relationship with China, NBC News reported earlier this week. The memoir alleges sexual harassment by Joel Kaplan, who was her boss serving as vice president for global public policy at the time. He was named earlier this year to serve as Meta's global affairs officer. According to the arbitrator's decision, published Wednesday, Wynn-Williams was ordered not to make or amplify any 'disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments' about any person or entity related to Meta, and must retract any existing remarks. She was also told not to continue prompting, publishing or distributing the book, emergency arbitrator Nicholas Gowen wrote in his decision. As of Thursday morning, the book still appeared for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Meta's arbitration alleges the claims in Wynn-Williams's memoir violate the nondisparagement agreement she signed when she was fired. The Hill reached out to Macmillan Publishers and Flatiron Books, both named respondents in the case, for comment. 'This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams' false and defamatory book should never have been published,' Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote in a statement. Stone claimed Wynn-Williams was fired for 'poor performance and toxic behavior,' adding an investigation eight years ago found she made misleading and unfounded allegations. 'This book is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives,' a Meta spokesperson told The Hill on Thursday. The spokesperson claimed Wynn-Williams has been 'paid by anti-Facebook activists.' 'Whistleblower status protects communications to the government, not disgruntled activists trying to sell books,' the spokesperson added. The harassment investigation mentioned in Wynn-Williams's book lasted 42 days and included 17 witness interviews and a review of every document provided by Wynn-Williams, according to Meta. Several former colleagues of Kaplan spoke out on social media in his defense. 'I was present for a lot of these events — and I worked on some of these projects — and these descriptions are just not even close,' former Meta employee Sarah Feinberg wrote on Threads earlier this week. 'I worked with Joel Kaplan throughout my years at Facebook — he was one of my closest colleagues — and I have never observed him be anything other than professional, thoughtful, strategic and fair.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
