'Careless People': A searing tell-all about destructive structural incentives that embolden Facebook

In a world where sites of power are increasingly becoming less transparent, less responsive, and less accountable, the corporate whistleblower memoir has evolved from a rare curiosity to an established literary genre. Each new exposé scrapes another layer off the spiffy veneer of statements and postures designed to hide institutional wrongdoing.

Sarah Wynn-Williams’s searing tell-all, , adds to the growing corpus of accountability literature. As Facebook’s former Director of Public Policy, Wynn-Williams delivers meticulous documentation of how tech giants prioritise expanding the user base and boosting engagement metrics over well-being and safety. Wynn-Williams does not merely chronicle dysfunction; she maps the structural incentives that make such dysfunction inevitable. Where Frances Haugen, the former Facebook whistleblower data scientist, brought receipts, Wynn-Williams’s receipts bear executive signatures. Take, for example, Facebook’s failure to check propaganda and hate speech in Myanmar in 2017.

Spreading discrimination and violence

The of the Detailed Findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar concluded that hate speech, much of it on Facebook, significantly contributed to increased tension and violence, creating a climate receptive to incitement against Rohingya Muslims. The report called for independent research into Facebook’s role in spreading discrimination and violence to prevent similar scenarios...