Meta trying to destroy whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, US senator says

Sarah Wynn-Williams is Facebook’s former global head of public policy. Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy View image in fullscreen Sarah Wynn-Williams is Facebook’s former global head of public policy. Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Meta trying to destroy whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, US senator says Republican Josh Hawley accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s firm of relentlessly pursuing and attempting to bankrupt her A US senator has accused Meta of using lawfare in “efforts to destroy” a whistleblower who made allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers. In a letter to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg , the Republican senator Josh Hawley demanded to know what measures Meta had taken to monitor Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former global head of public policy, and her family. He also accused the firm of trying to make “truthful speech so perilous that no whistleblower like Ms Wynn-Williams can ever afford it”. Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams review – Zuckerberg and me Read more Wynn-Williams made her allegations in a memoir, Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism but under an interim arbitration ruling secured by Meta , she is unable to speak about the book, which contains claims about it working with the Chinese government on censorship tools, and its platforms’ negative impacts on teenagers. She sat in silence on stage at the Hay literary festival in Wales earlier this year after taking legal advice, and is suing Meta over the restrictions it secured over her. Meta strongly disputes Wynn-Williams’ book, saying it contains several false claims, and describes her legal case as a ploy to shift more copies. Hawley, whose senate judiciary subcommittee on crime and counter-terrorism took evidence from Wynn-Williams last year, said: “Meta’s efforts to destroy Ms Wynn-Williams with lawfare are a matter of grave public concern.” View image in fullscreen The Republican senator Josh Hawley said allegations about Meta’s treatment of Wynn-Williams were ‘deeply troubling’. Photograph: Allison Robbert/AP “Ms Wynn-Williams raised serious questions about Meta’s dealings with the Chinese government, the harms Meta’s platforms pose to users, and Meta’s representations to Congress,” Hawley wrote in his letter, seen by the Guardian. “Ms Wynn-Williams testified notwithstanding extraordinary pressure from Meta to silence her before the hearing. When she made her allegations public, Meta moved aggressively to gag her through a private arbitration. “To this day, Meta continues to relentlessly pursue her in arbitration, attempting to bankrupt her and subjecting her and her family to constant stress.” Hawley demanded documents relating to any Meta attempts to “monitor, track, record, or catalog Ms Wynn-Williams’ or her family members’ public statements, interviews, social media activity, or public or private travel”. In a recent lawsuit launched against Meta, Wynn-Williams’s legal team accused the comp