A Review of Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People offers a fascinating look at Facebook on the brink of global dominance as told through the perspective of a young woman who recognized its world-changing potential before its own leadership did. In this blend of memoir and insider’s account, Wynn-Williams shares how she carved out a role for herself within the company, only to watch her idealism slowly crumble into a personal nightmare.
The book opens with a bang – providing a shocking introduction to Wynn-Williams’ tenacity, courage, and sense of adventure through a recount of a traumatic experience in her childhood. She becomes obsessed with working for Facebook after envisioning what influence it could have in the world. With her background as a New Zealand diplomat, policy expert, and international lawyer with roles in government and the UN, she envisions herself as someone who Facebook needs. After over a year of pitching for a job, she ultimately joined Facebook and became their Director of Global Public Policy.
The first half of the book reads much like a thriller, recounting Wynn-Williams’ adventures in the jungle of Panama with world politicians, meetings with the junta in Myanmar, and jet-setting around the world relating Facebook managers encounters with political figures still prominent on the global stage, including Dilma Rousseff, the former President of Brazil and current head of the BRICS bank and Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and first civilian president of Myanmar. There are also mentions of Xi Jinping, President of China and President Barack Obama.
As Wynn-Williams recounts the introductions of Facebook to international affairs, there’s a growing sense of unease. That unease evolves into dread as she reflects on Facebook’s role in Myanmar’s ethnic violence, its alleged privacy concessions to China, and the advertising campaign that helped Trump win the 2016 election.
The book also describes Wynn-Williams’ interactions and relationships with her bosses, Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, whom she characterizes as lacking a depth of compassion. Whether you believe her personal anecdotes or not, they carry a feeling of truth—largely because of the existing journalism about their leadership and because of the social media ecosystem that they’ve helped shape, which makes everyone’s individual judgement of truth to be more reliant on feelings than fact. However, taking what Wynn-Williams writes and comparing it with what exists in public record it’s hard not to see troubling parallels.
It’s well-documented that prior to Facebook, Zuckerberg created a website called Facemash while a student at Harvard, using photos of female students without their permission. He and other male students hacked into the online directories of Harvard’s residential Houses and posted the women’s photos, allowing other students to rate their “hotness.” So, when Wynn-Williams alleges sexual harassment in the workplace or talks about the targeting of young vulnerable teenage girls with intrusive ads that prey on their insecurities, it’s hard not to think about FaceMash.
In the book, Facebook’s workplace culture appears to reach a new level of “carelessness” when Wynn-Williams recounts the company’s response to the ethnic violence that erupted in Myanmar. (Note: Victims from the Rohingya community have filed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the company was negligent and that its algorithms amplified hate speech. That case is still ongoing in the courts.)
Careless People falters slightly in its pacing during the final quarter of the book, when Wynn-Williams shifts focus to her work on the China portfolio and the post-2016 U.S. election period. This shift is likely due to her departure from the high-level boardroom meetings, where she was a “fly on the wall” to the company’s inner workings and decisioning. Or perhaps she chooses to exclude portions from her narrative. Regardless, she still drops several intriguing insights into what Facebook’s future might hold. She discusses the company’s alleged willingness to compromise on privacy in order to gain access to the Chinese market. With the current debate over the safety of open AI systems—systems that Meta appears to be championing—the idea that Facebook’s platform could be infiltrated by foreign actors is a concerning one. That this could be happening intentionally, as Wynn-Williams suggests, is even more alarming.
Although I found myself puzzling as to why Wynn-Wlliams stayed with Facebook for as long as she did (it only seems that once she is demoted, she takes on a more activist role), she comes across as an ethical individual. Knowing that Wynn-Williams is now venturing into the AI legislative and governance frontier is somewhat comforting, as it suggests that people with ethical principles and who know the stakes are entering the field. But can individuals like Wynn-Williams prevail against the tsunami of money and influence wielded by tech giants like Meta—companies with fortunes and powers greater than those of many countries in the world?
Early in the book, Wynn-Williams refers to Facebook’s Little Red Book, an internal employee handbook, which prominently states, “Facebook was built to accomplish a social mission—to make the world more open and connected.” (It also includes the phrase, “Move fast and break things,” which eerily mirrors the current rhetoric used to describe DOGE by the U.S. government.) Yet just this past week, Zuckerberg shared his vision of friendships on Facebook in a podcast interview, stating, “The average American has, I think, it’s fewer than three friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more.” Who could fill that gap? AI companion bots. The once-idealistic vision of making friends and the world more open and connected now seems poised to take a strange, disconnected turn toward the future.
I highly recommend Careless People to anyone seeking a fascinating firsthand account of working at Facebook. You will no doubt be left with questions, new insights, and issues to consider regarding your privacy and the immense hidden power that social media platforms wield on our lives.
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