A former Facebook executive who recently published an explosive tell-all memoir about her time at the company is set to testify before Congress Wednesday about the risk she claims Meta poses to US national security.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former director of global public policy, sent Meta’s sizable public relations and legal apparatus into overdrive in March when her book debuted, alleging that she had been terminated from the company after accusing its now chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan of sexual harassment. Among other things, the book also charged the company with cozying up to China’s censorship regime in hopes of launching its services there—a topic that Wynn-Williams plans to focus on in her testimony, according to her prepared remarks, which were first reported on by NBC News.
Meta previously told Vanity Fair that the book included a “mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives.” A slew of former employees have also since spoken out, testifying to Kaplan’s character and accusing Wynn-Williams of misrepresenting events.
Meta went so far as to seek an emergency hearing with an arbitrator to enforce a non-disparagement agreement Wynn-Williams signed in exchange for severance when she was fired in 2017. The arbitrator barred Wynn-Williams from promoting the book or “amplifying or repeating” any “disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments.”
But the Streisand Effect is a heckuva thing, and Careless People not only soared to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list, but it also caught the attention of Big Tech hawks like Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who chairs the Senate subcommittee that Wynn-Williams will brief Wednesday.
In her opening remarks, Wynn-Williams plans to accuse Meta of working “‘hand in glove’ with the Chinese Communist Party to construct and test custom-built censorship tools that silenced and censored their critics.” She also plans to accuse Meta of lying about its operations in China, including about its open-source AI model Llama.
Reuters reported last year that Meta’s Llama has been used by researchers linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army, a use case Meta’s director of public policy told Reuters was “unauthorized and contrary to our acceptable use policy.” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated on X that “the alleged role of a single and outdated version of an American open-source model is irrelevant when we know China is already investing over [$1 trillion] to surpass the US technologically.”
In her remarks, Wynn-Williams notes that advertisers in China remain a significant revenue stream for Meta. Indeed, the company brought in $18 billion from Chinese advertisers last year, according to its SEC reports. However, Meta argues that ad revenue is distinct from operating its platforms for users to join in China. “Sarah Wynn-Williams’ testimony is divorced from reality and riddled with false claims,” Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels told Vanity Fair. “While Mark Zuckerberg himself was public about our interest in offering our services in China and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago, the fact is this: we do not operate our services in China today.”
Wynn-Williams plans to acknowledge the arbitrator’s order that she refrain from badmouthing Meta. But, in her remarks, she writes that she is speaking to Congress “at considerable personal risk because you have the power and the authority to hold them accountable.”
Meta has said the arbitrator’s order does not prohibit Wynn-Williams’ testimony. “We have no intention to interfere with Wynn-Williams’ legal rights,” Daniels said.ecurity.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former director of global public policy, sent Meta’s sizable public relations and legal apparatus into overdrive in March when her book debuted, alleging that she had been terminated from the company after accusing its now chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan of sexual harassment. Among other things, the book also charged the company with cozying up to China’s censorship regime in hopes of launching its services there — a topic that Wynn-Williams plans to focus on in her testimony, according to her prepared remarks, which were first reported by NBC News.
