Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook director, has released a new book titled “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism,” which sharply criticizes Facebook leadership, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Wynn-Williams worked at Facebook from 2011 until her firing in 2017, following allegations of sexual harassment against her boss, Joel Kaplan.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has sought to suppress the book’s release by winning an interim arbitration claim that prevents Wynn-Williams from promoting or selling it further. However, this order does not appear to affect her publisher, Flatiron Books.
The book portrays Zuckerberg as hot-tempered, unaccountable, and ignorant of history. It recounts anecdotes from Wynn-Williams’ interactions with him, such as a board game session where Zuckerberg was described as a poor loser. She also accuses Zuckerberg of lying during a 2018 Senate hearing on data privacy and downplaying Facebook’s efforts to work with the Chinese Communist Party.
Other revelations include Zuckerberg’s admiration for Andrew Jackson and his complaints about not obtaining permission to build a helicopter pad near his San Francisco residence. Wynn-Williams also criticizes the intense working culture under COO Sheryl Sandberg and accuses Kaplan of blocking the hiring of a human rights expert focused on Myanmar.
Meta spokesperson Erin Logan described the book as defamatory and claimed Wynn-Williams bypassed standard fact-checking processes. Wynn-Williams’ publisher, however, stated the book underwent thorough vetting.
— news from SFGATE