Meet Sarah Wynn-Williams, Whistleblower Who Claims Mark Zuckerberg Betrayed US to Woo China

Washington: Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former top policy executive at Facebook, has now turned into a high-profile whistleblower, accusing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of secretly helping China while pretending to stand for American values. She made these explosive claims before a US Senate committee this week, stating that Zuckerberg betrayed the US to build closer ties with the Chinese government.

She begins her testimony with claims to Meta betraying US, she said, “I served as director of global public policy at Facebook (now Meta) for nearly seven years starting  2011. Throughout those seven years, I have seen meta executives repeatedly undermine US national security and betray American values. They did these things in secret to win favour with Beijing China and built a $18 billion business.”

Who is Sarah Wynn-Williams?

Wynn-Williams worked at Facebook (now Meta) between 2011 and 2017 as the company’s global policy director. After leaving the tech giant, she wrote a tell-all book titled Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism. The book, despite facing legal restrictions from Meta, became a bestseller and has now brought her into the spotlight for her bold allegations.

According to reports, in her testimony to the US Senate , Wynn-Williams claimed that Facebook quietly worked “hand in glove” with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She said the company developed censorship tools for Beijing, some of which were even tested on Facebook users in Taiwan and Hong Kong. According to her, these efforts were all part of a larger plan to gain business advantages in China, even though Facebook's main services remain blocked in the country.

She also revealed that Facebook executives regularly met Chinese officials and even helped them understand technologies that could be used to compete with American tech companies.

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Zuckerberg Accused of Betraying US 

Williams blamed Meta to provide data of American citizens to China Communist Party, she added, “I watched this executive decided to provide the Chinese communist party access to meta user data including that of Americans. Meta does not dispute these facts, they can't. I have the documents. This Monday they claim that they doesn't operate in China, another lie. Meta started offering products in China in early as 2014 and that hasn't stopped."

“The greatest trick Mark Zuckerberg ever pulled was wrapping the American flag around himself and calling himself a patriot while secretly helping China build an $18 billion business,” she told the Senate accusing Zuckerberg. 

She further alleged that when the Chinese government demanded the deletion of a dissident’s Facebook account even though the person was living in America Facebook quietly removed the account and when asked they denied the claim and misled the US Congress about it.

Meta Denies Charges, Calls Claims False

Meta’s communications head Andy Stone strongly denied all allegations. He said Wynn-Williams' statements were “divorced from reality” and “riddled with false claims.” He added that Zuckerberg had always been open about Meta’s interest in the Chinese market, but clarified that Facebook does not operate in China today.

However, the Senate hearing also pointed out that while Meta’s apps are banned in China, products like its AI platform Llama and VR gear Oculus are still accessible in the Chinese market.

Book Accused Senior Meta Executive of Sexual Harassment

Apart from the China angle, Wynn-Williams’ book also sheds light on Meta’s internal culture. She also exposed senior Meta executive Joel Kaplan of involved in crime of sexual harassment and criticised the company’s power-hungry and toxic work environment. Kaplan, a close ally of Donald Trump , is now the head of Meta’s global affairs team.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who led the Senate hearing, used Wynn-Williams’ documents and testimony to directly accuse Zuckerberg of lying in previous Congressional hearings.

“The truth is, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have lied to the American people repeatedly,” Hawley said.