Early on in Sarah Wynn-Williams’ explosive account of her six years at Facebook, the company’s former director of global public policy describes being handed Mark Zuckerberg’s Little Red Book: a philosophical tract illustrated with images of their supreme leader. “Another MZ,” Wynn-Williams writes, “channelling his own peculiar form of Maoist zeal”. “Facebook was built to accomplish a social mission,” the pamphlet reads, “to make the world more open and connected”. The next 300 pages of Williams’ book illuminate just how – and why – that mission went wrong.
During her time at Facebook (2011-2017), Wynn-Williams got to know Zuckerberg better than most. She reveals how much he hates losing, even in board games. Any staffer invited to play Settlers of Catan aboard his private jet (the game is won by building the dominant force on an island) is, apparently, expected to let him win. His karaoke song of choice is I Want It That Way by The Backstreet Boys.
