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Meta Obtains Legal Order to Halt Promotion of Ex-Employee’s Memoir
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
Meta obtained a legal order to halt the promotion and distribution of a former director’s memoir during an emergency hearing this Wednesday. The arbitrator ruled in favor of Meta’s allegations that the author may have violated a non-disparagement severance agreement.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Meta secured a legal order to halt the promotion of former employee Sarah Wynn-Williams’s memoir, Careless People , alleging violations of a non-disparagement agreement.
- The memoir contains allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment, including claims against top executives.
- Meta disputes these claims, stating that Wynn-Williams was terminated for poor performance and that her allegations are false and outdated.
According to the official ruling , the tech giant won, temporarily, the legal victory to stop Sarah Wynn-Williams’s book, Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism , from reaching a wider audience during an emergency proceeding she didn’t attend. A contract signed in 2017—which prohibited Wynn-Williams from making negative statements—was considered for the decision.
Wynn-Williams, worked at Facebook—now Meta—from 2011 to 2017 where she served as Director of Public Policy. Her profile at the World Economic Forum states she is an international lawyer and policy expert with vast experience as a diplomat. And, up until last week, her tell-all memoir of her seven years at Facebook was kept a secret.
“Careless People is darkly funny and genuinely shocking: an ugly, detailed portrait of one of the most powerful companies in the world,” wrote journalist and literary critic Jennifer Szalai in a review of the book at The New York Times published this week. “What Wynn-Williams reveals will undoubtedly trigger her former bosses’ ire.”
After learning about the book’s publication, Meta immediately denied Wynn-Williams’s allegations and took action.
“This is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives,” said a Meta spokesperson about the book in an interview with the New York Post published on Monday. “Eight years ago, Sarah Wynn-Williams was fired for poor performance and toxic behavior, and an investigation at the time determined she made misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment.”
Andy Stone, Communications Director at Meta, shared a post on Threads including the filing issued by the emergency arbitrator Nicholas A Gowen after considering that Meta had provided enough information to consider that Wynn-Williams could have violated her contract in publishing her memoir.
“This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published,” wrote Stone in the post. “This urgent legal action was made necessary by Williams, who more than eight years after being terminated by the company, deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and avoided the industry’s standard fact-checking process in order to rush it to shelves after waiting for eight years.”
Many users replied to Stone’s post saying that Meta’s censorship moves had only increased their interest in reading Wynn-Williams’s book and criticized the tech giant’s arguments. “I’m terribly confused. I thought Facebook was returning to its roots and embracing free speech. Can’t ‘community notes’ address false statements?” wrote one user referring to Meta’s recent decision to end its fact-checking program.
Photo by Kai Wenzel on Unsplash
Google Invests An Additional $750 Million In Anthropic To Enhance AI Capabilities
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
A New York Times report revealed that the tech giant Google owns 14% of the startup Anthropic and has invested over $3 billion in the company—and plans to invest an additional $750 million through convertible debt in September.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Google has invested over $3 billion in AI startup Anthropic and plans an additional $750 million investment through convertible debt in September.
- The U.S. Department of Justice is scrutinizing Google’s investments to assess potential antitrust law violations.
- Legal filings accessed by The New York Times reveal Google’s strategies to maintain its market dominance amid ongoing antitrust investigations.
Google has been developing its own generative AI technologies while also investing in promising AI companies such as Anthropic to stay ahead in the AI race . However, the company is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for alleged antitrust violations and has been required to submit documentation and files for the case.
The New York Times got access to legal filings , revealing the giant’s strategies to gain leverage in the market. Google’s investments have been under evaluation to determine whether the company has been using its power to take advantage of the market.
“A big company like Google knows that there is a race to A.I., and it has a big enough cash pile that it can bet on multiple horses,” said Chris V. Nicholson, an investor with the venture capital firm Page One Ventures who focuses on A.I. technologies, to the New York Times.
While Google doesn’t have much control over Anthropic—and cannot surpass a 15% ownership—it is still willing to keep investing. According to the documents reviewed by the journal, both companies have made multiple agreements, including a 2023 agreement of a $2 billion investment.
