A former Meta executive who wrote an explosive exposé making allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers is said to be “on the verge of bankruptcy” after publishing the book.
An MP has claimed in parliament that Mark Zuckerberg’s company was trying to “silence and punish” Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former director of global public policy at Meta’s precursor, Facebook, after her decision to speak out about her time at the company.
Louise Haigh, the former Labour transport secretary, said Wynn-Williams was facing a fine of $50,000 (£37,000) every time she breached an order secured by Meta preventing her from talking disparagingly about the company.
Wynn-Williams made a series of claims about the social media company’s behaviour and culture in her book Careless People, published this year. It also contained allegations of sexual harassment denied by the company. It states she was fired for “poor performance and toxic behaviour”.
However, the former diplomat was barred from publicising the memoir after Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, secured a ruling preventing her from doing so. She subsequently appeared before a US Senate judiciary subcommittee, in which she said Meta worked “hand in glove” with Beijing over censorship tools – something the company has denied.
Pan Macmillan, which published the memoir, said it had sold more than 150,000 copies across all formats. The book was also named in The Sunday Times‘ bestselling hardbacks of 2025 so far. The paperback edition is due to be published early next year.
New York magazine has previously reported that Wynn-Williams was paid an advance for the book of more than $500,000 (£370,000).
Haigh highlighted Wynn-Williams’s case in the House of Commons during a debate about employment rights on Monday. She said Wynn-Williams’s decision to speak out had plunged her into financial peril.
“Despite previous public statements that Meta no longer uses NDAs [non-disclosure agreements] in cases of sexual harassment – which Sarah has repeatedly alleged – she is being pushed to financial ruin through the arbitration system in the UK, as Meta seeks to silence and punish her for speaking out,” she said.
“Meta has served a gagging order on Sarah and is attempting to fine her $50,000 for every breach of that order. She is on the verge of bankruptcy. I am sure that the whole house and the government will stand with Sarah as we pass this legislation to ensure that whistleblowers and those with the moral courage to speak out are always protected.”
It is understood that the $50,000 figure represents the damages Wynn-Williams has to pay for material breaches of the separation agreement she signed when she left Meta in 2017. Meta has emphasised that Wynn-Williams entered into the non-disparagement agreement voluntarily as part of her departure.
Meta said that to date, Wynn-Williams had not been forced to make any payments under the agreement.
The company did not wish to comment on Haigh’s intervention. It has previously said that Wynn-Williams’s Senate testimony was “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims” about China and the company’s treatment of teenagers.
Meta has described the book as a “mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives”. It has said she was fired for “poor performance and toxic behaviour” and that an investigation concluded she made misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment.
It said the ruling preventing her from publicising the memoir confirmed the “false and defamatory book should never have been published”.
The ruling stated Wynn-Williams should stop promoting the book and, to the extent she could, stop further publication. It did not order any action by Pan Macmillan.
Wynn-Williams has not spoken in public since appearing at the Senate hearing in April. In a written statement this month, she said she was grateful that the US Senate was continuing to investigate Meta’s behaviour.
“I wish I could say more,” she said. “I urge other tech employees and those who are thinking of whistleblowing to share what they know before more children are harmed.”
Her lawyer confirmed Wynn-Williams “remains silenced about the very matters Congress is investigating, despite clear and unanimous voices from Congress calling on Meta to end their arbitration proceedings which threaten to bankrupt her”.
