Meta has won a quick victory in its bid to stop the surprise publication of a memoir by a former politician turned whistleblower. An arbitrator sided with the social network, saying the author must stop selling and promoting the book, which went on sale earlier this week.
The drama revolves around “Careless People,” a new book by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook employee who Meta says was fired in 2017. In what the publisher calls an “explosive inside story,” Wynn-Williams reveals some new details about how Mark Zuckerberg tried to take Facebook into China a decade ago. She also alleges that Meta’s current policy director, Joel Kaplan, acted improperly and reveals embarrassing details about Zuckerberg’s awkward meetings with world leaders.
The book was announced just last week, and Meta has mounted a massive public relations campaign against it, calling it “a new book of old news.” Numerous former employees have publicly disputed Wynn-Williams’ account of events during her time at Facebook.
Meta has also filed an emergency motion with an arbitrator seeking to block the book, arguing that Wynn-Williams violated a nondisclosure agreement with the company. In its ruling, the arbitrator said she must immediately stop making disparaging comments about Meta and stop “further publication or distribution” of the book. It’s unclear what that means for the book, which is already on sale. The publisher, Flatiron Books, which is also named in Meta’s complaint, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This decision confirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement. “This urgent legal action was necessary because Williams, who for more than eight years after her dismissal from the company, deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and evaded the standard fact-checking process in order to rush the book onto shelves after an eight-year wait, was fired.”
