Careless People

“The vastness of the information Facebook would be collecting was unprecedented. Data about everything. Data that was previously entirely private. Data on the citizens of every country. A historic amount of data and so incredibly valuable.”

Wynn-Williams recognized the potential role for Facebook in global politics. The platform was revolutionary and had the likelihood of changing the world, yet the people running Facebook did not grasp this potential. They were not engaged with governments outside of the US in the early years, for example.

“This gets her attention. I realize that’s the sweet spot. I’m focused on Facebook the global political force; she’s focused on Facebook the global business force.”

When pitching herself to Levine for a position at Facebook, Wynn-Williams discovered that Levine did not care about Facebook’s impact on politics. However, Levine became interested when Wynn-Williams explained that foreign governments had the capability to slow or stop Facebook’s growth through regulation. The goal was to increase the number of users to increase the stock price, with a complete disregard for the effects of that strategy.

“[T]he punishing scale of work is by design. That staffers should be given too much to do because it’s best if no one has spare time. […] The fewer employees, the harder they work.”

Facebook expected its employees to work long hours and to travel at a moment’s notice. The legendary perks that the company offered, such as free snacks and meals, were to ensure better productivity. While top managers talked about the importance of family and a work/life balance, their demands made the realization of those goals extremely difficult.