Former executive sues Meta over attempts to 'silence' her memoir, 'Careless People'

FILE - Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook's former director of Global Public Policy, testifies on Capitol Hill, April 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Belinda Foster, NB360

Updated Thu, June 25, 2026 at 6:55 PM EDT

A former Meta executive, whose memoir "Careless People" offers an explosive insider perspective on her experiences at the social media giant, has filed a lawsuit against the company for trying to "silence" her.

The lawsuit, submitted on Thursday in federal court in Northern California, contends that the tech giant's private arbitration order preventing her from discussing the company or promoting her bestselling book is invalid. It also claims that the severance agreement she signed upon leaving Meta, in which she agreed not to criticize the company, was signed under duress.

Sarah Wynn-Williams was the director of global public policy at Facebook, now under Meta Platforms Inc., from 2011 until her dismissal in 2017. "Careless People" accuses CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives of cruel and otherwise disturbing behavior. It also details Zuckerberg's alleged attempts to gain favor with Chinese officials. Meta has responded by stating that Wynn-Williams breached her agreement and authored a book filled with inaccuracies.

The lawsuit states that Meta is demanding $50,000 in damages for each alleged breach of the non-disparagement agreement by Wynn-Williams, placing her under financial pressure. She is requesting the court to lift the arbitration order and annul her severance agreement with the company.

Meta stated that its "former employee is attempting to use the legal system to sell books, despite an arbitrator having already determined that she violated the agreement she signed with the company when she accepted a large severance payment years ago. Her book is disconnected from reality, disparaging, and filled with false claims."

According to the lawsuit, Meta obtained an emergency gag order preventing Wynn-Williams and her lawyers from criticizing the company or promoting her book. Over the more than a year since the book's release, the lawsuit alleges, Meta has monitored her, with company representatives attending her public appearances and taking photographs, "to ensure that at each event, Ms. Wynn-Williams did not speak about Meta or her book."

The lawsuit claims that Meta even objected to Wynn-Williams attending an arts and literary festival in the U.K. earlier this year, where she participated in a panel but remained silent — since other panelists were critics of the company.

"Meta is pursuing Ms. Wynn-Williams at the cost of free speech and legal constraints not only because she refused to yield to the greed and power of Meta, Mr. Zuckerberg, and other executives, but also to instill fear in anyone else who might consider speaking the truth about Meta's unlawful and abusive practices in the public interest," the lawsuit asserts.