Careless People

Sarah Wynn Williams, 2025

See how a tech giant's biggest decisions actually get made, and learn to spot the warning signs when concentrated corporate power goes unchecked in elections, censorship deals, and fragile countries.

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10 parts, about 18 minutes to read.

Why read it

An insider account of how a young, mission driven social network came to put growth and power ahead of people
Lets you see how decisions about new markets, elections and speech were actually made at the top
Told by a former diplomat who sat in the rooms, with specifics on China, Myanmar and the workplace

Who it is for

Readers who want to know how big platforms really decide
People working in tech policy or trust and safety
Women weighing the personal cost of a demanding career

What the summary covers

A Hopeful Comedy1 min
Why I Wanted In2 min
Mission, Growth, and Power2 min
Rules Become Personal1 min
Free Basics and the Politics of Connection2 min
A Body Treated as an Input2 min
The Facebook Election2 min
China: What the Documents Said2 min
Myanmar: The Cost of Omission2 min
Leaving and Looking Forward2 min

Recommended by

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Elizabeth DayAuthor of The Party and Friendaholic
Urgently necessary reading
Roxane GayAuthor of Hunger and Bad Feminist
Well-written, funny, horrifying, and quite compelling.

About the author

Sarah Wynn WilliamsNew Zealand lawyer and author; former Director of Public Policy at Facebook
- Grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand
- Policy adviser in the New Zealand diplomatic service 2002 to 2007
- Ran New Zealand's political affairs and government relations office at its Washington embassy 2007 to 2011
- Joined Facebook in 2011 and became its global public policy director
- Left what was then Facebook in 2017; Meta says she violated a severance agreement, and an emergency arbitrator barred her from promoting the book