Imagine believing you’ve landed your dream job, only to find yourself inside what feels like a Silicon Valley soap opera – complete with private jets, inappropriate bosses, and a side hustle in global surveillance. That’s the ride Sarah Wynn-Williams takes us on in Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.

The former Facebook (now Meta) executive, who once called herself “Facebook’s diplomat”, joined the tech giant in 2011 brimming with idealism. She believed the platform could change the world for the better. What she found instead was a company drunk on power, obsessed with growth, and disturbingly comfortable with silencing dissent.

Her memoir paints an unflattering portrait of Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta and author herself of the infamous elitist Lean In. There’s petty drama – like Sandberg allegedly demanding her 26-year-old assistant buy $13,000 worth of lingerie for them both – but also darker moments: sexual harassment allegations against senior exec Joel Kaplan and Facebook’s alleged willingness to cosy up to the Chinese government by offering a bespoke censorship tool.

Perhaps the most damning section of Careless People is its examination of Silicon Valley’s role in the Myanmar genocide. The book meticulously outlines how social media platforms were used to incite violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority, culminating in mass killings, rapes, and a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions.

Wynn-Williams lays bare how tech giants, despite being repeatedly warned about the dangers of unchecked hate speech, did little to intervene – until the PR disaster was too big to ignore. Even then, their responses were sluggish, vague, and full of the usual corporate jargon about how they “can and should do more” (which, let’s be honest, is Big Tech code for “we hope you’ll forget about this in six months”).

The final pillar of Wynn-Williams’ critique focuses on censorship: how the very companies that champion free speech are also the ones deciding what can and cannot be said. The book delves into the ways in which tech firms have wielded their power to silence dissent, particularly when it threatens their interests.

This extends not only to political discourse but also to internal whistleblowers who dare to challenge unethical practices. The result? A digital ecosystem where power is centralised, information is curated to fit corporate narratives, and the illusion of free expression is maintained – so long as it doesn’t affect the bottom line.

The book has caused such a stir that Meta’s taken legal action, arguing it violates a nondisparagement agreement. A gag order now prevents Wynn-Williams from promoting the book – a move critics say reeks of hypocrisy from a company that claims to champion free speech.

Careless People is a must-read for the woke and the weary, an unflinching look at the darker side of an industry that prides itself on innovation and progress. It’s a reminder that if history has taught us anything, it’s that those who refuse to learn from their mistakes are doomed to keep hitting “refresh” on the same old problems.

📚 Still available at major bookstores – if Meta doesn’t get to them first.