Opinion: Meta Embraced Free Speech Until An Insider Spoke Out

Just weeks after Mark Zuckerberg celebrated the end of Meta’s fact-checking program in the name of “free expression,” the company is now fighting to silence one of its own. Former executive Sarah Wynn-Williams’s memoir, Careless People, is shaking the foundations of Meta’s leadership—and climbing the bestseller charts in the process.

In January, Mark Zuckerberg—Meta’s CEO—shared a video to inform the world about a shocking decision: the end of the company’s fact-checking program.

“It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression,” said Zuckerberg with excitement. “I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms.”

Meta’s freedom of speech movement was working according to plan… until a former director, Sarah Wynn-Williams, announced the publication of her memoir: Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.

Just a few days after the book was announced, Meta acted fast and got a legal order to halt the promotion of the book—which contains allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment, including top executives. The company denied all accusations and alleged violations of a non-disparagement severance agreement previously signed.

Meta’s attempt to silence Wynn-Williams’ story completely backfired. Careless People just hit No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and second place on Amazon’s chart. What was meant as censorship turned out to be the best marketing strategy Wynn-Williams could’ve asked for. But what is in the book—and how could it impact Meta?

Read it and weep! 🔥 #carelesspeople pic.twitter.com/ZEM8CRW6Ob

— Ruth Wynn-Williams (@RuthWW) March 19, 2025

Careless People: The Forbidden Fruit

Wynn-Williams worked for Facebook—currently known as Meta—for six years, from 2011 to 2017. She served as Director of Public Policy, which makes her now the highest-ranking whistleblower the tech giant ever had.

The ex-employee and the publisher Macmillan kept the book a secret—and for understandable reasons—until just a few days before its release on March 11. Meta got the legal order to halt the promotion and distribution—and “stop” the memoir from reaching a wider audience—on March 12.

In the memoir, Wynn-Williams exposes Meta’s toxic culture, and shares stories of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior from the company’s leaders, as well as Facebook’s desperate attempts to break into the Chinese market, including the development of a censorship tool for the Chinese government.

Exposure of Meta’s culture and leadership

The book paints a damning picture of several high-profile figures who are respected both within the company and beyond. One of them is feminist, economist, and former Facebook Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg.

According to The New York Times review, Wynn-Williams recounts how Sandberg allegedly asked her to “come to bed” with her in a private jet, instructed her assistant to buy lingerie for the two of them—a purchase that reportedly totaled $13,000—and treated her female employees inappropriately. This treatment included overly intimate behavior with her assistant and requesting unpaid extra work to promote her bestseller Lean In, as reported by San Francisco Chronicles.

Wynn-Williams also shares details of how Joel Kaplan—Sandberg’s ex-boyfriend, her manager, and Meta’s current policy chief—made “weird comments,” rubbed his body against her while dancing at a work event, and pressured her to jump into weekly video conferences while she was on maternity leave and going through an amniotic fluid embolism.

But the former employee doesn’t just share her personal experiences—she also describes the company’s behavior in response to local and global events, and how the tech giant handled controversial and sensitive situations internally.

Meta Building Censorship Tools For China

One of the most polemic topics currently being addressed in public media is Wynn-Williams’ allegations of Meta meeting the Chinese government’s demands. This included building a censorship feature just for them, to enter the market again as the social media platform has been banned in mainland China since 2009, as well as all the other networks developed after—Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.

According to VICE, the ex-director explains in the book that in 2014 Facebook negotiated with the Chinese government and agreed to store users’ data on Chinese data services and even build a censorship tool to automatically remove posts containing restricted words.

Wynn-Williams says the tech giant even suggested creating a “Chief editor” position for Facebook’s Chinese version with permission to remove content and even shut down the app during times of civil unrest.

So, when Zuckerberg said a few weeks ago that “it’s time to get back to our roots around free expression,” maybe we misunderstood and it’s getting clearer now with Careless People’s release.

Meta Offered The Best Advertising: Prohibition

Of course, when Zuckerberg and all the company’s top executives learned about Wynn-Williams’ book they took immediate action.

First, Meta discredited the author and dismissed all her accusations, then got a legal document to silence her.

“This is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives,” said a spokesperson from Facebook to the New York Post.  “Eight years ago, Sarah Wynn-Williams was fired for poor performance and toxic behavior, and an investigation at the time determined she made misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment.”

Wynn-Williams’ version differs, as she strongly believes she was fired in retaliation for reporting sexual harassment—after she complained about Kaplan.

“Since then, she has been paid by anti-Facebook activists and this is simply a continuation of that work. Whistleblower status protects communications to the government, not disgruntled activists trying to sell books,” added the spokesperson.

A Backfiring Order

Meta pulled out all the stops to secure an emergency hearing and halt the promotion and distribution of the book. Within days, it obtained the order and the arbitrator’s approval, arguing that she had violated a previously signed contract by publishing her novel and promoting the book on podcasts and media interviews.

But this order only made people more curious about the book, causing the forbidden fruit effect. “This made me just buy her book,” said an X user referring to the news of Meta’s order to prevent the book promotion.

“Big thanks to Meta for making me aware of Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People,” wrote another user. “Without the attempt to  muzzle her, I might have never learned about this remarkable book and all these disturbing details around cozying up to China.”

The explosive interest in the book hasn’t just grown among curious readers and is breaking sales records—it has now also reached institutions and governments.

“Members of the United States Congress, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the Parliament of the European Union have requested to speak with Ms. Wynn-Williams on the issues of public concern raised in her memoir,” wrote Wynn-Williams’ lawyers to CNN when asked about the order.

Bad Timing For Meta, Good Timing For Sales

All of this is happening while tensions inside Meta were already reaching concerning levels just days ago. In a recent wave of layoffs in February, around 3,600 employees lost their jobs—a move that sparked outrage as it affected people on sick leave and parental leave. And just a few days ago, 20 employees were fired for leaking confidential information.

The timing of Wynn-Williams’s decision to publish her memoir is striking—eight years after parting ways with Facebook, and right at a time of major political, economic, and structural changes in the world and within the company.

Meta has emphasized that stories are outdated, anecdotes lack credibility, and also that the book wasn’t fact-checked—the irony! However, MacMillan, the publisher, has stated that the book is “not a book of news” and that they fully support the author, citing a rigorous editing and fact-checking process.

The tech giant might now be missing its former fact-checking team, and regretting its attempts to halt the publication. Meta is now facing both internal and external battles that seem likely to test its resilience in the days ahead.