Careless People

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism (2025) is a memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams about her experiences working at Facebook. An attorney and former diplomat, Wynn-Williams worked as the manager of global public policy for the social media company from 2011 to 2017. She argues that Facebook’s leaders have sought to maximize profit with no concern for the effects of their decisions on politics and people’s lives. This carelessness has extended to the treatment of employees, with harassment and safety concerns ignored. The book quickly became a New York Times bestseller.

This guide refers to the 2025 hardback Flatiron Books edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, rape, sexual violence and harassment, physical abuse, and gender discrimination.

Summary

In 2009, while working as a diplomat in Washington, DC, Wynn-Williams noticed the potential for Facebook to be a game changer in politics. The platform was beginning to be used by politicians for their campaigns, and it contained a treasure trove of information about its users that governments would love to have. However, those leading Facebook did not seem to grasp this potential and did not have relations with foreign governments.

Wynn-Williams met with Marne Levine, Facebook’s vice president of global public policy in 2010, but failed to convince her of the need for a position dedicated to foreign diplomacy. Levine had no interest in Facebook’s impact on global politics but perked up when Wynn-Williams explained that foreign regulations could slow Facebook’s economic growth. The next year, when the Arab Spring took place, Levine recognized the need for a global strategy at Facebook and hired Wynn-Williams.

In her first experiences at Facebook, Wynn-Williams recognized that its top leaders, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, were disengaged from the real-world effects of their company and did not have a sense of responsibility. Zuckerberg showed no interest in meeting foreign leaders, refusing to schedule a photo opportunity with New Zealand’s prime minister when he visited the Facebook campus. Sandberg offended a German delegation, which soon thereafter opened an investigation into Facebook. By early 2012, it was clear that Facebook still had no vision of its role in world affairs.

When Facebook reached the milestone of 1 billion users in October 2012, its leaders began to appreciate the need for foreign relations. To grow and keep the stock price increasing, they had to expand abroad. With little regard for her safety, Facebook’s leaders sent a pregnant Wynn-Williams to Myanmar, which was (and still is) run by a military junta. Over the next couple of years, Wynn-Williams traveled to Colombia and South Korea. Fearing Zuckerberg’s arrest in South Korea, where the company was flouting regulations, Facebook’s leaders wanted to send Wynn-Williams ahead to ensure that no arrests would be made. Only by convincing her bosses that she was of more use planning Zuckerberg’s trip did she get out of this task.

Meanwhile, Wynn-Williams also started to feel conflicted about her lack of a work/life balance, as she had a baby at home whom she was breastfeeding. Although Sandberg has cultivated an image as a feminist, Facebook made no accommodations for Wynn-Williams when she was pregnant or breastfeeding her baby. Sandberg required Wynn-Williams to email talking points while in labor. Additionally, managers demanded that Wynn-Williams travel in the late stages of pregnancy and while still recovering from a near-death experience when delivering her second child.

As Zuckerberg began to travel abroad and engage with foreign leaders, he changed. While he previously wanted nothing to do with politics and was interested only in technology, Zuckerberg started to assume a more active role in foreign relations. In Indonesia, he experienced the adulation that popular political figures receive and was impressed. He increasingly made decisions about the removal of posts, which previously had been handled by staff with the use of community standards. His decisions tended to be good for Facebook’s business interests. For example, he took down a post about a protest for the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny to keep Facebook operative in Russia. The United States State Department chastised him for doing so.

Given the size of the Chinese market, Zuckerberg became obsessed with getting into it. In his memos to staff, he failed to acknowledge the moral complexity of operating in a country with an authoritarian government. To the contrary, Zuckerberg agreed to Chinese demands and facilitated its surveillance and censorship of users.

Despite his newfound interest in politics, Zuckerberg continued to demonstrate a lack of diplomatic skills. He was repeatedly late for meetings with foreign heads of state and insisted that such meetings be scheduled at his convenience. What is more, he came to such meetings unprepared and sometimes offended leaders. In one instance, he offended the Colombian president so much that Zuckerberg’s pet project of connectivity, dubbed “Internet.org” and later “Free Basics,” was set back. The president, who had planned to endorse it, declined to do so. The project drew much criticism from digital rights groups because it offered a poor version of the Internet that favored Facebook.

As governments attempted to get Facebook to pay taxes and subject it to regulations, the company’s top leaders decided to change the balance of power with politicians. The goal was to make politicians dependent on Facebook for their power, which in turn would make said politicians reluctant to hurt Facebook’s economic interests. This decision ultimately resulted in divisive politics. Facebook rewarded those making inflammatory posts with lower prices.

In 2016, the Trump campaign took full advantage of Facebook’s policies to spread disinformation and micro-target audiences with messages that would resonate because of their views. They used the platform to raise money and discourage Democratic voters from participating in the election. Initially, Zuckerberg and others at Facebook labeled the charge that the company facilitated Trump’s election as ridiculous. When Zuckerberg later understood how the Trump campaign successfully used the platform, he did not offer to make any substantive changes.

Likewise, when Facebook was accused of enabling advertisers to target vulnerable teens based on their emotional states, the company again denied the allegation and failed to make any meaningful changes. Additionally, Facebook’s leaders accepted no responsibility for the use of its platform in Myanmar. There, military leaders used it to incite violence and genocide against the Muslim minority. Despite warning signs of danger, Facebook still did not monitor and take down problematic posts. Facebook would essentially do anything necessary to increase its economic growth and had no concern for collateral damage.

Although Wynn-Williams became disillusioned with Facebook, she resolved to stay there until she found another job. Given serious health issues, she cannot be without insurance. However, the environment became increasingly toxic. Her immediate supervisor, Joel Kaplan, sexually harassed her. The first time that she reported him, she was told to withdraw the complaint and promised that the behavior would stop, but it did not. Motivated by a group of women speaking out about gender relations at Facebook, Wynn-Williams reported Kaplan a second time after he grinded into her at a work party. This time, she was denied a transfer to another department, and a sham investigation cleared Kaplan. Soon thereafter, Wynn-Williams was fired, allegedly for not increasing her team fast enough, despite Wynn-Williams asserting that Kaplan blocked her new hires.

Wynn-Williams now works in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). She notes the potential destructive capability of AI weapons. Given the potential for catastrophic consequences from this technology, she fears that Zuckerberg’s Meta, of which Facebook has become a part, will be equally careless with its policies in this field.