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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Tim Wu

I watched as Meta’s threats stopped Sarah Wynn-Williams from speaking – we must have stronger rights for whistleblowers

From left, Tim Wu, Sarah Wynn-Williams and Carole Cadwalladr at the Hay festival, 31 May 2026.
Tim Wu (left), Sarah Wynn-Williams (centre) and Carole Cadwalladr (right) at the Hay festival, 31 May 2026. Photograph: Sam Hardwick

This year’s Hay festival concluded with a strange spectacle. I was on a panel about the dangers of excessive tech power, alongside former Meta employee Sarah Wynn-Williams – who sat without saying anything on the advice of her lawyer. She had been silenced by Meta’s legal threats to bankrupt her if she spoke.

Wynn-Williams has written a book, Careless People, about her time at Meta (then Facebook), where she was an early director of global public policy. In the tradition of such books (usually written by former government officials), it is in parts flattering, more often critical and, above all, insightful.

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