Never has a gag order been so ill-judged. Meta's attempts to quash Sarah Wynn-Williams' memoir, Careless People – the inside story of her six years at the company, which was then called Facebook – have made it a bigger hit than its former director of global public policy could ever have imagined.
An arbitrator ruled in Meta's favour in a case they brought against the author, whose book alleges several cases of misconduct. The interim ruling extends to Macmillan Publishers and its imprint Flatiron Books, and affirms the book is both "false" and "defamatory", according to Meta spokesperson Andy Stone. Wynn-Williams has been banned from promoting the book and giving interviews to the press; naturally, it shot right to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and is the topic on everyone’s lips among the chattering classes. North London dinner parties are now set to the hammerbeat of "But did you know this about Sheryl Sandberg?".
