“They [Meta Platforms, Inc.] have stopped at absolutely nothing to prevent today’s testimony. They have absolutely gone to war to try to prevent it,” he said. “They have gone scorched earth to prevent her from telling what she knows.” – Senator Josh Hawley (R), Missouri as quoted in TheHill.com

Having engaged Meta Platforms, Inc.’s legal investigations team and Chief Legal Officer over serial exploitation of aspiring authors, including the elderly on Facebook and Instagram, I took particular interest in Sarah-Wynn William’s recent blockbuster expose, Careless People, A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.

The Memoir, released by Flatiron Books on March 11th, catapulted to top 10 New York Times Bestseller status.  Over 60,000 copies were sold within the first week of release. Together with Sarah’s Senate hearing testimony, the exposé more than solidified my steadfast belief that Meta Platforms Inc. is fundamentally broken. I was an idealist and somewhat naïve, but as the expression goes: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Today, Mark Zukerberg’s net worth hovers around 204 billion dollars.  He is considered the 3rd richest person in the world, just below Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

These words are neither envy nor sour grapes, just sadness actually. I bought the resounding theme that Mark Zuckerberg’s motives were pure. A once college-aged, tech geek “done gone good” for himself and each of us in this uber competitive world – particularly in Silicon Valley among the behemoth Titans of Tech.

Rolling Stone’s recent article captures the basic takeaways from Careless People. One theme in the memoir resoundingly resonates with me.  “[Meta] prides itself on being difficult to reach. It has hundreds of millions of users and ensures that not a single one of them can reach its tiny staff with random emails or phone calls.” (Wynn-Williams, S. (2025).  Memoir.  Flatiron Books, at pg. 19.)

The memoir recounts Zuckerberg’s quest to penetrate markets worldwide, at times inciting violence and bloodshed, at any cost. Sarah Wynn-Williams, a New Zealand Diplomat and international lawyer, served as Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, now a division of Meta. She claims she was fired in 2017 in retaliation for raising sexual harassment concerns against her superior, the details of which are cringeworthy.  Meta challenged the publication of Careless People but its opposition to the memoir has only served to bolster the memoir’s credibility.

The most damning allegation in the memoir, and subsequent Senate hearing testimony, is about Zuckerberg’s relationship with China and the Chinese Communist Party. Tantamount to espionage, Zuckerberg has drawn scathing rebuke from both Democrats and Republicans alike. He will be on the hot seat before the Senate Judiciary Committee in short order.

Taking the memoir and Senate Hearing Testimony at face value, Sarah-Wynn Williams easily debunks the myth and rhetoric  that Meta and Mark Zuckerberg desire free speech. On the contrary, they desire power and money at any cost. In Sarah’s words, Zuckerberg is a man of many costumes and that he will “wear whatever gets him closest to power.”

2020 Federal Trade Commission litigation is set to go to trial, and could end with Meta Platforms, Inc. being required to divest itself of Instagram and WhatsApp. That is peanuts compared to the fallout from the publication of Careless People, and the subsequent Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing.

Careless People is an eye opener, for sure. “It didn’t have to be this way” is perhaps the most poignant takeaway from Sarah Wynn-Williams’ memoir.  Perhaps that’s why Meta exhibited such fierce opposition to its publication.

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JAMES M. WALSH, ESQ. is a former Navy JAGC officer and a recipient of the American Bar Association’s coveted LAMP Award for excellence in military legal assistance practice. A rolling stone, J.M. has globetrotted most of his adult life. After the military, J.M. pursued commercial real estate development, leasing, and asset management. He resides in Catania, Sicily. He spent almost twenty years in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Luzerne, Erie & Lackawanna Counties. His handiwork as an editor and author is interspersed throughout this novel. Leo A. Murray fondly refers to J.M. as his collaborative, literary ‘Coach’ or ‘Lieutenant.’ Agnes claims that he has gypsy in his heart and rabbit in his feet.

James’ thriller, Maximum Impact, written with co-author Leo Murray, was published by Abuzz Press.