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In a book that’s making waves in the United States, Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former high-ranking executive at Meta, openly criticizes the company and her former boss, Mark Zuckerberg. The book also contains serious allegations.
This is the kind of publicity Mark Zuckerberg and Meta would’ve gladly done without. While Careless People, the book written by former Meta executive Sarah Wynn-Williams, includes claims that haven’t been officially confirmed, the mere act of casting suspicion on the American tech giant could further damage its already frequently criticized image.
Sarah Wynn-Williams joined Facebook in 2011 and steadily climbed the ranks, eventually becoming the company’s Head of Global Policy — a position that brought her close to Mark Zuckerberg for many years. But her career at Facebook ended in 2017, when she was fired after accusing her boss, Joel Kaplan, of sexual harassment.
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“Careless People”
The title Careless People can be interpreted as “thoughtless,” “negligent,” or “indifferent” individuals. Either way, the message is clear: the people in question — including former COO Sheryl Sandberg, now-President of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan, and a few others — lacked empathy and responsibility. The book’s subtitle, A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, sets a stark tone from the outset.
Many of the details Sarah Wynn-Williams shares were previously reported. However, she adds deeply personal anecdotes, especially about her working relationship with Mark Zuckerberg. She accuses him of lying during a 2018 Senate hearing and downplaying his attempts to collaborate with the Chinese Communist Party.
She also claims that Zuckerberg admires Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president — a highly controversial historical figure and favorite of Donald Trump. She describes him as someone who frequently shifts blame to his staff — like the time he lost his passport in Peru and blamed his team — and portrays him as hot-tempered, irresponsible, historically ignorant, and a sore loser in a particularly embarrassing board game incident.
“You’d hope that people with so much power would develop a sense of responsibility, but they show no sign of it,” Wynn-Williams writes. “In fact, the opposite is true. The more they witness the consequences of their actions, the less Mark and Facebook’s leadership seem to care.”
A Toxic Workplace, According to the Author
Wynn-Williams doesn’t just criticize Zuckerberg’s behavior. She also calls out Sheryl Sandberg, accusing her of fostering a toxic work culture — even sending the author work documents while she was giving birth. As for Joel Kaplan, unsurprisingly, he faces new accusations of sexual harassment, some of which allegedly occurred shortly after the author’s childbirth.
When she attempted to report the situation, Wynn-Williams claims she was quickly sidelined. She also accuses Kaplan of blocking her from hiring a human rights expert to address Facebook’s handling of Myanmar, where, starting in 2016, the military launched a brutal campaign against the Muslim Rohingya minority. According to her, Facebook lacked Burmese-speaking content moderators, which allowed hate speech and incitement to spread freely on the platform. “It wasn’t because of some bigger vision or malicious intent toward the country’s Muslims,” she writes. “And it wasn’t about money. My conclusion: Joel, Elliot Schrage, Sheryl, and Mark just didn’t care.”
Meta Responds and Pushes Back
When contacted by SFGATE, a Meta spokesperson called Wynn-Williams’s claims “misleading and baseless,” saying she was “terminated for poor performance and toxic behavior.” Meta even released a document citing parts of the book in an attempt to show that it’s nothing more than a mix of already-known facts and outright falsehoods.
Still, despite denying the allegations, the company has moved to limit the book’s exposure. Meta quickly filed a legal complaint in the U.S., claiming that Wynn-Williams violated a non-disparagement agreement she signed when she was let go. As a result, the author is now barred from promoting her book.
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However, thanks to the Streisand Effect, Meta’s legal maneuver might be backfiring — bringing even more attention to the controversial release. The book currently ranks in the top 3 bestsellers on Amazon.com.
