A former Meta executive from New Zealand has filed a lawsuit against the company in federal court in Northern California, challenging an order that bars her from discussing or promoting her memoir.
Sarah Wynn-Williams worked at Facebook, now Meta, as director of global public policy from 2011 until being fired in 2017. She wrote a memoir titled Careless People about her time at the company, which became a bestseller.
The memoir claims chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and other executives engaged in conduct Wynn-Williams characterises as cruel and disturbing. It also alleges Zuckerberg sought to curry favour with Chinese officials.
Meta secured an emergency order through private arbitration that prevents Wynn-Williams and her lawyers from criticising the company or promoting the book. The company is seeking US$50,000 in damages for each alleged breach of a non-disparagement clause in her severance agreement.
Wynn-Williams contends she signed the agreement under duress and is asking the court to cancel both the arbitration order and her severance agreement. The lawsuit claims Meta has monitored Wynn-Williams for more than a year following the book's publication, with company representatives attending her public appearances and taking photographs to verify she did not discuss Meta or her book.
The company objected to Wynn-Williams attending an arts and literary festival in the UK where she sat on a panel but remained silent, because other panellists were critics of the company.
Meta said in a statement that a "former employee is trying to use the legal process to sell books, which an arbitrator already ruled broke the agreement she signed with the company when she accepted a large severance payment years ago. Her book is divorced from reality, disparaging and riddled with false claims."