Careless People

Pick it up: If you are a critic of the giant tech companies and their unchecked practices. If you're a Meta fan or generally think social media platforms are a force for good, you really need to read this. If you need a cautionary tale of when to walk away from a toxic workplace. 

We don't think it is news to anyone that Facebook or Meta likes to "move fast and break things". That they are solely growth-driven with no interest in the adverse impact that misinformation and unchecked use of the platform can have. That they seem to be entirely morally bankrupt. We know this.

Despite this, this memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams from her roughly 7 years at the company between 2011 and 2018 is quite revealing and will leave you angry. Perhaps because these old stories still speak to the current moment and the risk that these giant tech corporations continue to pose. We all live in a world driven by the algorithms of these companies and it's scary to see the amount of power wielded by the technocrats who run them.

On one hand, Wynn-Williams's account is that of a deeply toxic workplace. In this, it is similar to the equally shocking account of Carrie Sun in her memoir Private Equity. 

On the other hand, as a relatively senior resource focused on global policy (a role she pursues them to create, as a former diplomat), her insight into the priorities and motivations of the company and its management team are illuminating. She realises early on that the company has only one priority - growth. They do not care about anything else and don't see why they should. Facebook was willing to give the Chinese Communist Party whatever it wanted (who cares about privacy concerns?) so long as they could operate there. More users = more growth. Their terrible attempt at expanding into Myanmar and the viral fake news that circulated, unmoderated, on the platform, actively contributed to a genocide in the region. When Zuckerberg realized that Facebook played a major hand in determining the result of the 2016 U.S Presidential election, thanks to an unprecedented use of fake news by the Trump campaign, his immediate reaction verges on admiration, followed by an idea that perhaps he could run for president too. Why not, right? He owns the platform that can game the system.

This is a pacy and sharply written memoir. Meta is doing everything in its power to block continued publication of the book. You wonder why, if as they have publicly said, it's just the work of a disgruntled employee.