Author of Meta Tell-All Forced to Halt Book Promotion
Just one day after Careless People, her tell-all account of six years working at Meta, hit shelves, Sarah Wynn-Williams, former global director of public policy for the internet giant, has been forced to halt promotion.
Claiming that it will incur “immediate and irreparable loss” if Wynn-Williams is allowed to continue publicizing the book, Meta won an emergency arbitration ruling on Wednesday. The book, which was kept secret until right before its publication, comes on the heels of the whistleblower complaint Wynn-Williams filed last week alleging that the internet giant was so eager to curry favor with the Chinese Communist Party that it considered sharing user data and allowing the party to make decisions about content visibility.
Meta’s argument in the suit hinges on a non-disparagement agreement Wynn-Williams signed when she was fired in 2017 after an investigation “found that she’d made “unfounded” statements.” (CNN notes that “Wynn-Williams implied in her book that she was fired in retaliation for reporting sexual harassment.”) Macmillan, which published Careless People, contends that it is not bound by the arbitration agreement. While the temporary ruling forces Wynn-Williams to halt promotion and do what she can to prevent further publication, it does not require any action by the publisher.
Careless People remains available through all major retailers and, presumably, through your local bookshop. Sure would be a shame if we helped it hit the bestseller list.
