Sarah Wynn-Williams helped build the Facebook empire, only to slowly realize the horrific steps the company would take to rise in power. Careless People is Wynn-Williams’ memoir about her time spent as the director of global pubic policy at Facebook.
This book offers a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of one of the most popular social media platforms. I always knew that Facebook did shady stuff, but I had no clue about some of the things they are involved in. I mean, I guess I should have realized since Facebook originally started as a way to rate classmates on campuses.
The book is filled with stories about how everyone let Mark Zuckerberg win when playing board games, about how Wynn-Williams walked into the office and a woman was having a seizure and no one did anything about it, and about how Sheryl Sandberg is really toxic. There were stories about sexual harassment, how Facebook’s algorithm targeted vulnerable teenagers, and Facebook’s role in events in Myanmar.
I am a bit skeptical that Wynn-Williams is as squeaky-clean as she wants us to believe. However, I do think she thought she was doing good work and helping to change the world, and instead she found herself in the old boy’s network. I have no doubt that all of the stories she tells are true; however, she does seem a bit naive. One of her reasons for staying at Facebook so long was the health insurance. Which is fair – health insurance costs a lot in this country, and she was pregnant at the time. Still, I would think that being at such a high position at Facebook, she would have had headhunters flocking to her.
I found Wynn-Williams’ background super interesting. The book begins by describing how she survived a shark attack when she was 13. She then went on to law school and worked as a diplomat in New Zealand. When she decided that she wanted to work at Facebook, she basically created a job and talked her way being hired.
The fact that Facebook tried to block the release of this book only made me want to read it more.
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