Meta won a legal victory this week against Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former employee who recently published a memoir<\/a> of her time at the company titled \u201cCareless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.\u201d<\/p>\n An arbitrator ruled<\/a> that the company has made a valid argument that Wynn-Williams, who worked at Facebook (now Meta) from 2011 to 2017, may have violated the non-disparagement agreement she signed when leaving the company. The ruling states that Wynn-Williams is temporarily prohibited from promoting \u2014 or, \u201cto the extent within [her] control, from further publishing or distributing\u201d \u2014 her book until private arbitration concludes.<\/p>\n However, \u201cCareless People\u201d remains available for purchase, and may in fact be benefitting from the \u201cStreisand Effect,\u201d<\/a> in which attempts to suppress information only serve to further publicize it. As of Sunday afternoon, \u201cCareless People\u201d was the number three bestselling book on Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Macmillan, which published \u201cCareless People\u201d through its imprint Flatiron Books, said in a statement that the arbitrator\u2019s decision \u201chas no impact\u201d on the publisher and that it will \u201cabsolutely continue to support and promote\u201d the book.<\/p>\n The publisher added that it is \u201cappalled by Meta\u2019s tactics to silence [its] author through the use of a non-disparagement clause in a severance agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo be clear, the arbitrator\u2019s order makes no reference to the claims within Careless People,\u201d Macmillan said. \u201cThe book went through a thorough editing and vetting process, and we remain committed to publishing important books such as this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCareless People\u201d offers what a New York Times reviewer described<\/a> as a \u201cdarkly funny and genuinely shocking\u201d look inside Facebook \u2014 particularly its relationship with China and other governments. (Wynn-Williams\u2019 roles at Facebook included serving as director of global public policy.)<\/p>\n \u201cI was there for seven years, and if I had to sum it up in a sentence, I\u2019d say that it started as a hopeful comedy and ended in darkness and regret,\u201d Wynn-Williams wrote in the memoir.<\/p>\n She added, \u201c[M]ost days, working on policy at Facebook was way less like enacting a chapter from Machiavelli and way more like watching a bunch of fourteen-year-olds who\u2019ve been given superpowers and an ungodly amount of money, as they jet around the world to figure out what power has bought and brought them.\u201d<\/p>\n Wynn-Williams also reportedly filed a whistleblower complaint<\/a> with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that, in its eagerness to operate in China, Facebook created a plan in 2015 to install a \u201cchief editor\u201d who would have been able to censor certain content or shut down the site in China on behalf of the country\u2019s ruling party.<\/p>\n In a statement, a Meta spokesperson described \u201cCareless People\u201d as \u201ca mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about [Meta] and false accusations about our executives,\u201d and described Wynn-Williams is \u201can employee terminated eight years ago for poor performance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not operate our services in China today,\u201d the Meta spokesperson continued. \u201cIt is no secret we were once interested in doing so as part of Facebook\u2019s effort to connect the world. This was widely reported beginning a decade ago. We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we\u2019d explored, which Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCareless People\u201d recounts uncomfortable encounters between Joel Kaplan, now Meta\u2019s vice president of global public policy, and Wynn-Williams, who claims<\/a> he ground himself against her at a work event, described her as \u201csultry,\u201d and made \u201cweird comments\u201d about her husband.<\/p>\n Meta said it investigated Wynn-Williams\u2019 allegations of harassment and found them \u201cmisleading and unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n As for whether the company is simply trying to silence a whistleblower\u2019s criticism, the spokesperson said, \u201cWhistleblower status protects communications to the government, not disgruntled activists trying to sell books.\u201d<\/p>\n Current and former Facebook employees have also criticized Wynn-Williams\u2019 memoir. Ex-staffer Mike Rognlien said<\/a> he \u201csat next to Sarah for 18 months when we both worked at the New York office\u201d and claimed the book \u201chas so many lies in it I wouldn\u2019t even know where to start.\u201d<\/p>\n Wynn-Williams discussed Meta\u2019s pushback in a Business Insider<\/a> interview conducted before the arbitration ruling, characterizing criticisms from the company and former coworkers as distractions. Asked about whether the book had been fact-checked, she said, \u201cI think Meta\u2019s problem is using this to not answer the questions themselves. What I would love is for us not to fall into the distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/9781250391230.jpg?w=447\")