 "Zuckerberg once asked Xi Jinping to name his child: Here's what happened")
In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he would “do him the honour of naming his unborn child,” Xi refused.
This anecdote is one of many revealed by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive, in her new memoir ‘Careless People’. The book offers a critical look inside one of the world’s most influential tech companies and its leadership. Since its release, it has generated widespread attention across Silicon Valley and beyond, reported The Times.
Wynn-Williams, who worked at Facebook from 2011 to 2017 and became global public policy director, challenges the long-held belief that Sheryl Sandberg played the role of the adult in the room, balancing Mark Zuckerberg’s influence. “There were no adults in the room,” Wynn-Williams says. “These are people who have assumed a lot of power, thinking none of the rules apply to them,” he said.
Her memoir, which she kept secret even from close family, details what she describes as a culture focused on power and loyalty, often at the expense of accountability. Wynn-Williams says she wrote the book to shed light on how the company operates behind the scenes. “I had to ask myself: who was my silence benefiting?” she says.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, responded quickly. It obtained a temporary US injunction to stop Wynn-Williams from promoting the book, calling it “defamatory” and “untrue”, and describing her as a “disgruntled former employee” who was fired for “poor performance and toxic behaviour”. But the book’s UK release proceeded as planned, and it quickly reached No 4 on Amazon’s print bestsellers list.
Wynn-Williams, now a tech consultant living in London, says she was motivated by concern about how social media platforms influence public life and politics. ‘Careless People’ charts her journey from an idealistic newcomer to someone deeply concerned by what she witnessed at the company.
She describes Zuckerberg as someone who grew into his role as a global power broker, but who remained insulated from criticism. She recalls him preferring late meetings and rarely rising before midday, even when meeting world leaders. In one instance, after being criticised by former US President Barack Obama for Facebook’s role in the spread of misinformation during the 2016 election, Zuckerberg reportedly reacted angrily, insisting Obama “doesn’t get it.”
Facebook’s leadership, Wynn-Williams argues, operated within a closed circle. “They were all each other’s bridesmaids, they buy each other’s houses,” she says. “This bubble is opaque — you can’t see outside the private jet.”
Sandberg, publicly known for her feminist manifesto Lean In, is portrayed differently in Wynn-Williams’s account. She recalls incidents that she felt demonstrated a misuse of power, including being asked to share a bed with Sandberg during a private flight, which she declined. Later, she says she felt excluded. Sandberg also reportedly sent an assistant to spend $13,000 on lingerie for the two of them. A representative for Sandberg declined to comment.
Wynn-Williams also raises concerns about Facebook’s international activities. She was part of discussions about expanding into China and alleges that Facebook made offers to promote social order and assist with content moderation aligned with the government’s requirements. She also claims that the company shared technical information about its facial recognition tools with Chinese engineers and installed certain tools in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Meta has said it does not operate in China but still earned £18 billion last year from China-based advertisers.
Wynn-Williams believes that Facebook’s role in Myanmar was particularly concerning. UN experts found that the platform helped fuel violence against Rohingya Muslims in 2018. “It’s no surprise that the worst outcome happened in the place that had the most extreme take-up of Facebook,” she says. Meta has acknowledged it was “too slow to act” in Myanmar.
After leaving Facebook, Wynn-Williams turned her attention to artificial intelligence and says lessons from the social media era should guide future regulation. “AI is being integrated into weapons,” she says. “We can’t just blindly wander into this next era.”
Despite the experiences she recounts, Wynn-Williams remains connected to the platform in one way. “I am still Facebook friends with Mark and Sheryl … and with Joel,” she says. “Whatever Facebook friends means.”