Zuckerberg’s Increasingly Bizarre War on Whistleblowers  🔗 **Source:** [Zuckerberg’s Increasingly Bizarre War on Whistleblowers](https://share.snipd.com/episode/074387b1-9dc9-4199-bf74-32eeb9ce82ed) ## Highlights - **Belarus Ice Cream Flash Mob Revealed Repression** - Cory Doctorow recounts Belarusian activists staging whimsical flash mobs like an ice cream social to expose Lukashenko's brutality. - Protesters eating ice cream were beaten and dragged away, proving the regime's willingness to punish innocuous acts and making it a global embarrassment. Transcript: Cory Doctorow More than a decade ago, a group of young, internet-connected Belarusian dissidents launched a series of increasingly high-stakes, increasingly surreal confrontations with the Corrupt authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenko, a man who is often called the last Soviet dictator. Lukashenko's secret police, still called the KGB, routinely terrorize and kidnap pro-democracy activists, and all forms of protest are banned. It was against this backdrop of unrelenting oppression that the activists launched a series of whimsical flash mobs that challenged the Lukashenko regime's willingness to crack Down on even the most innocuous behavior. One of these flash mobs was an ice cream social. Activists converged on a public square to eat ice cream cones. Lukashenko's thugs beat them and dragged them away. The protesters thought that by daring Lukashenko to arrest people for eating ice cream, they could create a win-win situation. Either Lukashenko would be revealed as the kind of asshole who thinks it should be illegal to eat ice cream, or he'd be revealed as the kind of weakling who couldn't keep a lid on dissent. Lukashenko took the bait, and took it, and took it. In the years that followed, protesters would be arrested for smiling, clapping, and just standing silently. ([Time 0:06:58](https://share.snipd.com/snip/49a283d3-7e47-40c8-974b-3e03ff2bbc48)) - **Thin Skinned Power Uses Public Bullying To Silence Critics** - Doctorow links Lukashenko's thin-skinned repression to Mark Zuckerberg's aggressive tactics against whistleblowers like Sarah Wynne-Williams. - Both prefer appearing ruthless to deter dissent even at reputational cost, trading abroad ridicule for domestic intimidation. Transcript: Cory Doctorow Speaking of thin-skinned, paranoid, wildly corrupt buffoons who will stop at nothing to silence their enemies, how about that Mark Zuckerberg, huh? Sure, all the headlines these days are about Zuck's intention to transform Facebook into a sports betting site. But in the UK, Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers keeps finding new ice cream-grade depths of absurdity to plumb. The whistleblower in question is, of course, Sarah Wynne-Williams, author of the internationally best-selling memoir, Careless People, which details the criminality she witnessed During her years as the head of Facebook's international relations team. Careless People is full of revelations about the gross institutional misconduct of Facebook, including its knowing encouragement of a genocide in Myanmar. But it's also full of stories about the severe personal failings of Facebook's executive team, especially Sheryl Sandberg, Joel Kaplan, and Mark Zuckerberg. These three come off as the most colossal of assholes, cruel, petty, and predatory. Sandberg comes across as a sexual abuser who dreams of trafficking in poor people's organs. Kaplan is an oaf whose plan to provide paid internet access to refugee camps falls apart once he learns that refugees in camps don't have any money. He also takes points off of Wynne-Williams' workplace evaluation for being, quote, unresponsive over a period when she was in a near-death coma. Worst of all, though, is Zuckerberg, whose sins range from cheating at settlers of Catan to endangering the Colombian peace protest after a 50-year civil war because he refused to Get out of bed before noon. Zuck is also revealed to have given the Chinese state access to all of Facebook and the power to censor content they disliked as part of a failed bid to get permission to offer a Facebook Service in China. It's a terrible company, with awful products, run by the worst people. Wynne Williams' conditions of employment required her to sign a contract that bound her to silence, non-disclosure, forbade her from speaking ill of the company, non-disparagement, And denied her access to the legal system in all her dealings with Metta, binding ([Time 0:08:47](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f6f2ce31-78e7-42de-af79-e435ddfe3b0f)) - **Careless People Lays Out Meta's Institutional Crimes** - Doctorow summarizes Sarah Wynne-Williams' memoir Careless People, which documents Facebook/Meta's institutional misconduct and executives' personal failings. - He cites allegations including encouragement of genocide in Myanmar and granting China censorship power during a failed China bid. Transcript: Cory Doctorow The whistleblower in question is, of course, Sarah Wynne-Williams, author of the internationally best-selling memoir, Careless People, which details the criminality she witnessed During her years as the head of Facebook's international relations team. Careless People is full of revelations about the gross institutional misconduct of Facebook, including its knowing encouragement of a genocide in Myanmar. But it's also full of stories about the severe personal failings of Facebook's executive team, especially Sheryl Sandberg, Joel Kaplan, and Mark Zuckerberg. These three come off as the most colossal of assholes, cruel, petty, and predatory. Sandberg comes across as a sexual abuser who dreams of trafficking in poor people's organs. Kaplan is an oaf whose plan to provide paid internet access to refugee camps falls apart once he learns that refugees in camps don't have any money. He also takes points off of Wynne-Williams' workplace evaluation for being, quote, unresponsive over a period when she was in a near-death coma. Worst of all, though, is Zuckerberg, whose sins range from cheating at settlers of Catan to endangering the Colombian peace protest after a 50-year civil war because he refused to Get out of bed before noon. Zuck is also revealed to have given the Chinese state access to all of Facebook and the power to censor content they disliked as part of a failed bid to get permission to offer a Facebook Service in China. It's a terrible company, with awful products, run by the worst people. ([Time 0:09:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/39fc8d44-826d-4579-bdfd-b1040af700af)) - **Arbitration And Gag Clauses Weaponize Whistleblower Silence** - Doctorow explains Meta used gag clauses, non-disparagement, and binding arbitration to silence Wynne-Williams after she left the company. - An arbitrator (paid by Meta) ordered her not to promote or speak about her book and fined her over $111 million in damages. Transcript: Cory Doctorow Wynne Williams' conditions of employment required her to sign a contract that bound her to silence, non-disclosure, forbade her from speaking ill of the company, non-disparagement, And denied her access to the legal system in all her dealings with Metta, binding arbitration. Together, these three clauses, routinely used by Metta to silence would-be whistleblowers, meant that after when Williams' book was published, Metta got its arbitrator, a lawyer Who was paid by Metta to adjudicate contractual disputes instead of an actual judge, to order her to never promote or even speak about her book. The arbitrator awarded Metta $50,000 for each criticism that Wynne Williams levied, quickly coming to a total of over $111 million. This vastly exceeds the assets and lifetime earning potential of Wynne Williams and her husband, a reporter with the Financial Times. If this bill ever truly comes due, they will be wiped out. Which raises an interesting question. What else can they do to her? Once they've secured civil damages that exceed her net worth several times over, why shouldn't she just flout her agreement? Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose and all that. Nevertheless, Wynne Williams has scrupulously hewed to the arbitrator's rules, steadfastly remaining silent about her book, its contents, and her experience at Facebook slash Meta. ([Time 0:10:56](https://share.snipd.com/snip/47268f2f-6f44-45f7-a9f7-f0ae3cf67a3f)) - **Whistleblower Forced Into Public Silence At Events** - Doctorow recounts Wynne-Williams' enforced silence at events: she kept a blank expression onstage and did not sign books after launches. - At the Hay Festival she remained motionless for an hour and Meta had her book removed from the festival bookshop. Transcript: Cory Doctorow When she and I appeared on stage in London for the launch of my book in Shittification last year, she fell silent and assumed a blank expression any time the subject of Meta came up, and She didn't sign or sell books afterward. When she won the British Book Award, she did not speak to accept it, and the cover of her book was blurred out on the overhead screen. She gave an acceptance speech on behalf of her co-winner, the late Virginia Jeffrey, who was abused by Jeffrey Epstein and who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault. Nevertheless, when she was booked to speak about a subject other than her book at the Hay Festival, on a stage with Tim Wu and Carol Cadwallader, Metta sent a legal threat to the festival And Wynne Williams, claiming that by speaking about anything in public, she would violate the arbitrator's order. Accordingly, Wynne-Williams maintained total silence and a blank facial expression for an hour on stage, saying not one word, while Wu and Cadwallader carried on a discussion. Careless People was withdrawn from the festival bookshop on the day she appeared there. Nevertheless, Metta has informed Wynne Williams that her silent, motionless appearance on a stage constitutes a further breach of her agreement and that they are going to seek even More damages from her. ([Time 0:12:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/00105b11-2c22-451e-9cd8-a1e761c9ad54)) - **Meta Accepts Backlash To Intimidate Former Employees** - Doctorow argues Meta escalates punitive measures despite Streisand effect because destroying a whistleblower terrorizes thousands of ex-employees into silence. - He suggests Meta accepts reputational hit to maintain internal deterrence amid layoffs and an AI-driven cash crunch. Transcript: Cory Doctorow This act of anti-ice cream thuggery has pushed Wynne Williams over the edge, and now she's sued to invalidate her contract. Her lawyers have posted their documents related to the suit, including a 285-page declaration by Wynne Williams explaining the great lengths she's gone to in order to comply with Meta's demands and the company's absolute intransigence and arbitrary menace. Why would Meta be so intent on destroying this one high-profile whistleblower? Surely they've heard of the Streisand effect. There is no better way to ensure that Wynne Williams' book, already a New York Times number one bestseller, continues to attract readers than to continue to escalate these threats. I think they're perfectly aware that they are convincing more people to read Careless People. You should read it too, it's genuinely excellent. But I think they've decided that this is a price worth paying because A. They've done even worse things since when Williams parted ways with the company, and B, they're laying off thousands of workers because their giant bet on AI has been a flop, leaving Them with a massive cash crunch, and C, by destroying Sarah Wynne Williams, they can terrorize all of those thousands of bitter ex-employees into silence about the even graver sins The company has committed. That's my theory anyway. ([Time 0:13:58](https://share.snipd.com/snip/428faba0-bc20-486b-89ca-17ae329fae32))