Bombshell accusations targetting Meta, formerly known as Facebook, have landed the Mark Zuckerberg-led companyand him in major trouble. An ex-Meta executive, now playing the role of a whistleblower beckoning anxious days ahead for the tech giant, has spoken up against the company for possibly forging close ties with China while sacrificing its American foundation.
Sarah Wynn-Williams served as Meta’s director of global policy until 2017. At a Wednesday senate hearing, she honed her new whistleblower identity. Dragging company leaders, the former executive testified before the US Senate, “I saw Meta executives repeatedly undermine US national security and betray American values. They did these things in secret to win favour with Beijing and build an $18 billion in China.”
Meta whistleblower on Mark Zuckerberg’s company aiding the Chinese Communist Party
Further pushing that Meta jeopardised freedom of speech while aiding China, Sarah Wynn-Williams said during the Wednesday hearing that Facebook’s content review tool was personally developed by founder Mark Zuckerberg for Hong Kong and Taiwan application. In her congressional testimony, the former global policy director said, “The Chinese Communist Party and Mark Zuckerberg share a common goal of silencing their critics. I can attest to this from my own experience.”
Wynn-Williams also detailed her experience at Facebook in a recently published memoir titled “Careless People.” On Wednesday, she told the US Senate that Meta’s briefs to the Chinese Communist Party started “as early as 2015.” They focussed on “critical emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. The explicit goal being to help China outcompete American companies.” The former Meta exec insisted that such briefings related to the company — which were used to build the powerful Chinese AI company DeepSeek — happened at “every level,” including the leadership.
Arguing that China’s use of Meta’s AI tools has aided the country’s military capabilities, Wynn-Williams remarked that her old company even threatened her after the Facebook memoir was released. According to the Meta whistleblower, the tech giant also tried to stop her from speaking with Congress members.
Former Meta exec warns against spokesperson’s statement
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone slammed her allegations as “divorced from reality,” as per MSNBC, adding in the statement, “while Mark Zuckerberg himself was public about our interest in offering our services in China and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago, the fact is this: We do not operate our services in China today.”
However, Wynn-Williams has contradicted the final assertion that the company is not operating in China, calling it a lie. She has even filed complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department to push for further investigation.
During her Facebook stint, Wynn-Williams worked not only alongside Zuckerberg, but also other big names like Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan and former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Senate testimony, bipartisan pressure brand Mark Zuckerberg untrustworthy
“Did you sense that he had any red line?” Richard Blumenthal asked Wynn-Williams about Mark Zuckerberg’s alleged actions aiding the Chinese Community Party. “I did not,” she replied. Blumenthal torched the Meta CEO’s image as a “free speech champion.” Moreover, he said, “Zuckerberg has recently visited the White House, three times, to get the president to order the Federal Trade Commission to drop its antitrust case. Meta will stop at nothing to dispel and disguise and deceive.”
An overwhelming bipartisan agreement at Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing ultimately foregrounded how mistrusting Mark Zuckerberg may be.