By cryptoadmin 
Sarah Wynn-Williams joined Fb in 2011 when it was very a lot in its “transfer quick and break issues” period. A former United Nations diplomat, she had aspirations of serving to Fb increase its standing on the worldwide stage.
Over almost seven years on the firm, she had a front-row seat to a few of Fb’s most consequential (and controversial) moments. Final week, she printed Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, a memoir about her time on the firm and the way she slowly turned disillusioned about Fb’s position on this planet.
Because it was introduced, Meta has thrown the total weight of its PR machine towards the e book. The corporate initiated arbitration proceedings, which resulted in a ruling that now prevents Wynn-Williams from selling her personal e book. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone mentioned the arbitrator’s choice “affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory e book ought to by no means have been printed.” He mentioned that “pressing authorized motion was made crucial by Williams, who greater than eight years after being terminated by the corporate, intentionally hid the existence of her e book undertaking and prevented the trade’s customary fact-checking course of as a way to rush it to cabinets after ready for eight years.”
Her writer, Flatiron Books, mentioned in a press release it was “appalled” by Meta’s actions, noting that “the arbitrator's order makes no reference to the claims” within the e book, which “went by means of an intensive enhancing and vetting course of.”
After studying the e book, it’s simple to see why Meta PR has made such a fuss. Wynn-Williams labored intently with the corporate’s high executives, touring around the globe with Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg as they met with overseas leaders and formed the insurance policies that will outline Fb. She additionally delivers many firsthand accounts of what Zuckerberg, Sandberg and present Chief of World Affairs Joel Kaplan did and mentioned behind closed doorways. A lot of it isn’t fairly.
Listed here are a few of her most surprising claims:
Zuckerberg requested to be “gently mobbed” throughout a go to to Asia
Wynn-Williams was typically tasked with organizing the conferences varied Fb executives took with heads of state and different authorities officers. One of many more odd particulars is Zuckerberg’s request forward of a three-week lengthy journey to Asia. In keeping with Wynn-Williams, Zuckerberg requested that she organize both a “peace rally” or a “riot” throughout his go to. Fb’s CEO by no means explains the request, however Wynn-Williams speculates he wished "to check out how efficient his product is in turning Fb’s on-line instruments into offline energy.”
At first, I believe he's joking. Peace rallies are usually not my space of experience, and-to be frank-I've by no means been requested to prepare a riot earlier than. Particularly one for a tech CEO. I assume one thing has been misplaced in his communication-that it's some type of mix-up. "Riot" and "peace rally" are such fully various things. Then Debbie emails to say that she bumped into Mark and he instructed her that he needs a peace rally or a riot and we have to provide you with some concepts that can allow him to be surrounded by individuals or be "gently mobbed."
Zuckerberg refused to take conferences earlier than midday, even with heads of state
Zuckerberg apparently had a “strict” coverage about not taking any conferences earlier than midday. This coverage utilized not solely to inner conferences with others at Fb, however heads of state. Wynn-Williams recounts how Zuckerberg’s “refusal” to take morning conferences nearly derailed a deliberate assembly with the president of Colombia. That very same yr, she mentioned she was pressured to reschedule Zuckerberg’s deal with on the UN to a later time slot as a result of, in accordance with Wynn-Williams, “the United Nations isn’t vital sufficient for Mark to do an occasion earlier than midday.”
Meta constructed Zuckerberg a particular room to guard him from Zika
Fb took “excessive measures” to guard Zuckerberg from Zika throughout a go to to Peru for the APEC convention. To guard the CEO, who was apparently hoping to quickly conceive his second little one, the corporate opted "to construct a ‘managed construction’ on the positioning of the APEC convention heart the place air flow, publicity to others, and bug mitigation might be overseen by Fb.” Wynn-Williams dubbed it “operation good sperm.”
Zuckerberg’s “determined” makes an attempt to speak to Xi Jinping
Wynn-Williams spends loads of time delving into Fb’s plans to deliver the social community to China. She additionally particulars Zuckerberg’s makes an attempt to get face time with Chinese language President Xi Jinping.
In 2015, Zuckerberg flew to Seattle for a “longer than regular” handshake with Xi (who was within the metropolis for a tech summit Zuckerberg was not invited to). He later precipitated a “diplomatic disaster” when he posted a photograph of that handshake, which solely exhibits the again of Xi’s head.
The next yr, Zuckerberg and his staff hoped to surreptitiously get the CEO in entrance of Xi at APEC in Peru. Fb organized for Zuckerberg to present a speech straight earlier than an look by Xi, which meant the 2 males can be in adjoining dressing rooms. The aim, in accordance with Wynn-Williams, was to engineer a “spontaneous encounter” throughout which Zuckerberg might make his pitch to get Fb into China.
However when Xi arrived, he was flanked by “dozens and dozens” of males in navy uniforms who created a barrier such that, in accordance with Wynn-Williams, Xi didn't even need to “danger making eye contact with Mark.” She says that Zuckerberg was “damage” by the demonstration.
Sheryl Sandberg wished Fb to advertise organ donation
Not lengthy after beginning at Fb, Wynn-Williams says she was instructed that “Fb’s first proactive initiative to construct relationships with governments around the globe will probably be organ donation.” The thought was apparently Sandberg’s, who ran right into a former Harvard buddy and transplant surgeon and “provided to assist him supply donors.”
However when Wynn-Williams introduced up the logistical and authorized points that usually make it tough to move organs between international locations, she says Sandberg was “indignant.”
“Do you imply to inform me that if my four-year-old was dying and the one factor that will save her was a brand new kidney, that I couldn’t fly to Mexico and get one and put it in my purse?”
Fb would later add organ donation to the “life occasions” customers might add to their profiles.
Sheryl Sandberg and the aircraft crash that wasn't
In 2013, an Asiana flight from Seoul to San Francisco crash-landed on a runway, killing two individuals and injuring greater than 100 passengers. Sandberg, who was selling her e book Lean In on the time, was additionally touring from Seoul to San Francisco that day. Following the crash, she posted on Fb that she and a number of other Fb colleagues have been initially meant to be on that flight however had “switched to United so we might use miles for my household's tickets.”
Sandberg’s supposed near-miss generated a number of headlines, which isn’t shocking, as Wynn-Williams claims Sandberg was personally briefing reporters concerning the incident. Wynn-Williams was baffled by these experiences. She writes that the Fb COO “all the time flies United” and “by no means thought of Asiana.” In her recollection, she and one other colleague remarked to one another how “bizarre” it was for Sandberg to do that.
Why Zuckerberg and Sandberg’s Fb posts get a lot engagement
Wynn-Williams closely implies that there could also be some behind-the-scenes manipulation of Zuckerberg and Sandberg’s Fb posts. She doesn’t supply any proof that this has occurred, however says {that a} assembly attended by “somebody from Mark’s private communications staff” raises the chance.
In keeping with Wynn-Williams, “Sheryl’s assistant describes his job as managing ‘engagement for Mark and Sheryl's social media utilizing all of Fb's instruments.’” When Wynn-Williams asks straight if they’re “gaming” the positioning’s algorithm, she says the assistant replies that “you don’t need to know.”
Joel Kaplan wanted a geography lesson
A few of the most telling anecdotes in Careless Individuals contain Kaplan, who joined Fb’s coverage staff in 2011 and was promoted to Chief World Affairs Officer earlier this yr. She writes that Kaplan, who was a deputy chief of workers within the George W. Bush White Home, was “stunned to be taught Taiwan is an island” and that “typically after we begin to speak about urgent points in some nation in Latin America or Asia, he stops and asks me to clarify the place the nation is.”
Kaplan slow-rolled Fb’s response to issues in Myanmar
By now, Meta’s failures in Myanmar, the place hate speech and misinformation on Fb helped incite a genocide, are effectively documented. Wynn-Williams, who early in her tenure flew to Myanmar to attempt to promote officers there on the corporate’s connectivity tasks, describes her futile makes an attempt to get extra assets for content material moderation within the nation.
She blames Kaplan particularly. She says she “began this lengthy means of making an attempt to rent somebody for Myanmar in 2015” and located a human rights skilled who match the invoice in Might 2016, however Kaplan blocked her from making the rent in February of 2017. He allegedly instructed her to “transfer on and recover from it.” She later concludes that “when it got here to Myanmar, these individuals simply didn’t matter to him.”
(Meta had broadly labeled Wynn-Williams’ claims about Fb’s actions in Myanmar as “outdated information,” saying in a press release that “the information right here have been public document since 2018, and we’ve got mentioned publicly we all know we have been too sluggish to behave on abuse on our providers in Myanmar.”)
Kaplan’s alleged harassment
Wynn-Williams additionally accuses Kaplan of harassment and different inappropriate habits. After problems whereas giving beginning left her in a literal coma, she writes that Kaplan requested her over one in all their “common” calls throughout her maternity go away “the place are you bleeding from” and bought indignant when she didn't reply. Later, when she returned to work, he gave her an unofficial efficiency evaluation on her first day again, saying that she wasn’t “responsive sufficient.”
Wynn-Williams ultimately experiences Kaplan’s habits and an investigation is opened, however that “in a short time it appears to modify from an investigation of Joel, or the information, to an investigation of me.” She’s fired at her subsequent efficiency evaluation.
Meta has disputed Wynn-Williams' allegations. “This e book is a mixture of out-of-date and beforehand reported claims concerning the firm and false accusations about our executives," a spokesperson mentioned in a press release. "Eight years in the past, Sarah Wynn-Williams was fired for poor efficiency and poisonous habits, and an investigation on the time decided she made deceptive and unfounded allegations of harassment."
Replace, March 18, 2025, 1:57 PM PT: Wynn-Williams describes her tenure at Fb as lasting seven years, starting in 2011. However, in accordance with a Meta spokesperson, she was fired in "late 2017." This story has been up to date to mirror that she labored at Fb for "almost" seven years.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-wildest-details-in-the-facebook-memoir-meta-is-trying-to-bury-183310491.html?src=rss