Imagine How Powerful Meta Might Be Today If Their PR Wasn’t Run by Sycophantic Morons

Katie Notopoulos, writing at Business Insider (Apple News+ link):

It’s possible that this strident defense is backfiring — creating a “Streisand Effect” that’s publicizing the book even more.

Notopoulos isn’t one to pull punches or hedge, normally, but there’s no question that Meta has Streisand Effected the hell out of Wynn-Williams’s Careless People. I’m on my way to buy a copy this afternoon and I hadn’t even heard of its existence a day ago.

Sarah Wynn-Williams worked at Facebook from 2011 to 2017 — and her book, “Careless People,” details what she said were a bunch of bad things the company did. It also contains allegations that Joel Kaplan — who is now Meta’s chief global affairs officer — sexually harassed her. (Meta said this week that Kaplan had been cleared of the harassment allegations in 2017 after it investigated Wynn-Williams’ complaint.)

The book was released with hardly any pre-publishing fanfare: It was announced by its publisher, Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan, only a few days before it came out Tuesday. That’s an unusually short timeline.

Meta’s reaction has been emphatic and multi-pronged. The company created a page on its website that detailed a series of the claims in the book. It said some of these — like claims about its ambitions in China or its alleged failure to act in Myanmar — have already been reported in the news media as far back as 2017 and have been acknowledged by the company publicly. The company lists seven “new” claims from the book and then offers links to past coverage and company responses — calling the claims “old news.”

Meta’s strongest move was on Wednesday when it won a ruling in arbitration that said Wynn-Williams could no longer promote the book because of a non-disparagement clause in a contract she signed as an employee. The ruling was granted on an emergency basis and is temporary pending the completion of the full arbitration process, The Washington Post reported.

“Read the book that Meta not only doesn’t want you to read, but wants to prevent its author from even talking about” is a hell of a marketing angle. What an own goal.

★ Saturday, 15 March 2025