Careless People

A memoir, not a history book

I finally read Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams about her time in global policy at Facebook. It’s been on my shelf for a couple of months because I wasn’t 100% sold that it was worth the time. But then I saw a post on LinkedIn from someone I knew and respected who had worked with Wynn-Williams during her time at Meta. Her advice was to read it “because it captures a profoundly important moment in world history--a fact lost on many of the key actors and many of the people reviewing the book--from an insanely unique perspective.” Ok, fine, I’ll give it a shot. 

At first, I thought Sarah Wynn-Williams sounded a bit whiny and complaining discussing her experience working at Facebook. I mean, who would be shocked that Mark Zuckerberg has a big ego and control issues? Or that Sheryl Sandberg had a temper and could get really cranky? Not me. It was hard for me to sympathize with Wynn-Williams because the craziness she stepped into when she joined the policy team didn’t seem all that surprising. I had a lot of moments when I thought, “well, what did you think it was going to be like?” But then something shifted, the memoir began to build momentum, and the stories became a lot more eye-opening. 

I think Wynn-Williams’ does a good job painting the picture of what her life at Meta policy looked like when she was there from 2011-2017. I don’t know if everything in Wynn-Williams’ book is 100% accurate. I mean, memories are flawed. There’s plenty of people who could write a book about that time at Facebook and come up with something completely different. But this book is a memoir; an account of Wynn-Williams’ time at Facebook which included a lot of very personal information to do with her family, her health, and her experience. (It’s actually pretty heartbreaking what she went through postpartum and that’s after being attacked by a shark when she was a kid!) I didn’t read this book thinking that this was the definitive history of this time at Facebook, and no one should. But we should let Wynn-Williams’ share her perspective, shouldn’t we?

This response to the book, Careless People is Careless, written by a former Facebook employee, Katie Harbath, is a good example of the criticism that the book has received from some former (and current) Facebook employees. (Surprise: people have different experiences with work situations, bosses, and colleagues!) I am not sure Harbath does a great job proving her point that the book’s inaccuracies and exaggerations are enough to disregard Wynn-Williams’ account, but it doesn’t surprise that there are indeed some inaccuracies and exaggerations. Again, this is a memoir, and writers take liberties. There’s a reason this book will be placed in the memoir section of the bookstore, not the history section. Readers need to keep that in mind. What type and genre of book matters to how we weigh and use the information. Sometimes I think the lack of ability to decipher types of information is really crushing our ability to connect and converse with each other. (Just check out the comments in Careless People is Careless that led Harbath to writing a response to her original response.)

If you pick up Careless People expecting that you will learn all you need to learn about Facebook during the period of 2011-2017, you will be disappointed. If you finish Careless People and think you know the absolute, undeniable truth about what happened at Facebook during the period of 2011-2017, you will be wrong. If you read it because you are interested in hearing the first person account of someone who was at Facebook at a key moment in their growth, then, congratulations, this book is for you. 

Personally, I am glad I read the book. Did I feel like I got an interesting window to this time period from a person who was there? Absolutely. Do I understand that her colleagues might think she remembered things incorrectly or didn’t add context that the reader should know? Of course. Do I have my own experiences with Facebook on a personal and professional level that impact my response to this book? Duh. Yes.  It definitely enraged me a few times. To be honest, the overwhelming feeling I got reading this book was sadness. Sad because it seems the potential of these powerful, society-altering tools is lost because of greed.

In the end, this book is interesting because of the insights, the personal stories, and the writing style.I think Wynn-Williams was pretty brave to put her perspective and experience out there in the world. I definitely walked away with some interesting things to think about and questions to explore. That to me is the sign of a good book

Further reading on Careless People: 

Meta’s Response to Explosive Tell-All Is Ripped From a Familiar PR Playbook (Vanity Fair, March 12, 2025)

A Facebook Insider’s Exposé Alleges Bad Behavior at the Top (NY Times Book Review, March 10, 2025)

Meta Tries to Bury a Tell-All Book (Wired, March 14, 2025)

‘Careless People’ Author Can’t Promote Her Memoir About Facebook, But It’s Now A Bestseller (Rolling Stone, March 24, 2025)