Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Meta keeps escalating its legal war against whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, even after she fell silent onstage.
Cory Doctorow compares Mark Zuckerberg's campaign against Sarah Wynn-Williams to Belarusian dictator Lukashenka, who arrested people for eating ice cream. Wynn-Williams' book "Careless People" details Facebook's misconduct; Meta's arbitrator fined her $11 million for speaking about it. She sat silent for an hour at the Hay Festival after Meta threatened the festival. Meta is now seeking more damages for her silent appearance. Wynn-Williams has sued to invalidate her nondisclosure and nondisparagement contract. Doctorow theorizes Meta is willing to endure the Streisand Effect to terrorize other ex-employees into silence, especially as the company faces layoffs from its failed AI bet.
What commenters are saying
Commenters largely condemn Zuckerberg's behavior, calling him a sociopath and noting that extreme wealth corrupts. Some debate the guillotine rhetoric, arguing violent precedent historically leads to worse outcomes rather than fixing inequality. One commenter provides a specific factual challenge: "This did not happen and I'm not aware of any evidence or allegations that it did" regarding the claim that Zuckerberg gave China state access to Facebook, noting the truncated comment suggests Williams alleged Meta only indicated it would do so.