Review of CARELESS PEOPLE

The hyped memoir of Facebook exec Sarah Wynn-Williams

Tl;dr – The tell-all memoir of Facebook exec Sarah Wynn-Williams. She tells her story of how a company she idealized let greed and power overtake everything at the company, along with an exposé of Facebook’s relations with the CCP. Great read.

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I’m a big fan of tech history and I’ve read my fair share of books about Silicon Valley tech. The men that run these companies are some of the richest people in the entire world. And it’s not surprising that the companies that were at one point a small idea with a big vision to change the world do, in fact, change the world. Just not always as one would expect.

A few weeks ago I saw a story of a book that “couldn’t” be promoted: Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams. I’ll admit, I bought into the hype immediately. I couldn’t open the new tab fast enough to buy both the hardcover and audio in fear that Facebook would sue Wynn-Williams before I could get my hands on the book.

Honestly, I don’t know if it was a PR thing. I think Facebook did, in fact, pull some legal move to block the book, but the book is still widely available and on the New York Times best sellers list, so who knows. Whatever. I bought the book and devoured it.

Careless People tells the story of Facebook exec Sarah Wynn-Williams who, at the end of her time at the company, led global public policy. Her story is one that follows the growth arc of so many of the biggest companies in the US: idealism turned to greed.

Wynn-Williams, a New Zealand diplomat, saw the early potential of Facebook as a force for good seeing how the platform could spur revolutions, drive connection, and change the world. She was so determined to work there that she found any means to get in contact with the execs (this was 2011) and pitch them a job. Eventually they relented and she was hired.

Her job vision was to help guide Facebook relations with heads of state and foreign governments. She shares her attempts and progress in Facebook’s early years as she coordinated visits with leaders across the world. Mark, of course, couldn’t be bothered. He was all about the engineering.

But as the years went on, he began to care. And now, it’s clear the power he craves comes from sitting front row and Trump’s inauguration.

For most of the book, I couldn’t see why Facebook allegedly wanted to kill this book so bad. It reads as a fairly typical memoir of a junior employee at a big tech company finding her way. But things soon began to get dicey.

The sexual harassment from the senior executives, including from the notorious Sheryl Sandberg. The invisibility of personal boundaries. All but forcing employees to agree to be jailed in foreign countries to advance their growth objectives. Getting negative performance reviews for being in a literal comma while almost dying after childbirth. It’s shocking.

Then comes China. And what appears to be evidence that Facebook flat out lied during congressional testimony and agreeing to allow the CCP to have full data access to Facebook users in the country. Personally, I left Facebook in 2016 when all of this began and stopped paying much attention. But it’s the last 20% or so of the book that seems to lay out the damning information about the company.

Of course, though, it won’t matter even a bit.

It’s a great read and I recommend anyone with an interest in Silicon Valley tech read it. As usual, I recommend the audio version in this case to hear one’s story as they intend to tell it.

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Published: March 2025

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Format: Audio

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If you think this sounds interesting, bookmark these other great reads:

• The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America (2019) by Margaret O’Mara

• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (2018) by John Carreyrou

• Uncanny Valley (2020) by Anna Wiener

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