Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work is an exposé of Facebook (now Meta) written by its former global public-policy director Sarah Wynn-Williams. It was published earlier this year, but news of its publication was held back until the week before its release because it accuses Facebook executives, including founder Mark Zuckerberg, of a range of nefarious activities the author loosely characterises as “lethal carelessness”. Wynn-Williams has since been banned from promoting the book, one of her last public outings a testimony before a US Senate Judiciary Committee.

Before she joined the business, Wynn-Williams pressed Facebook to create the public-policy role she occupied because – on her telling – its executives did not then grasp how significant its global footprint would become. Indeed, the book recounts a period, from 2011 to 2017, when the tech company was learning how its presence in people’s lives could also influence those lives. In the end, that knowledge begat extraordinary power.

There is a naivety to the executives Wynn-Williams describes, but also a wilful indifference – as the drive for “more” overtakes any other considerations. There is much that is wilful too – the tilt towards the right, the active amplification of controversy and the treatment of employees, particularly women. Wynn-Williams herself is obliged to attend overseas events despite illness. At one point, when questioned about the lack of access to her after the complicated birth of her second child, she tells her male boss: “In my defence, I was in a coma for some of it.”

It is no surprise that Meta has tried to block the book, arguing that the memoir is prohibited under a non-disparagement agreement signed by Wynn-Williams. After the injunction was gained, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a post on X: “This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn-Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published.” The American people deserve to know the truth, countered Wynn-Williams at the Senate, remarking that she is subject to a gag order from a company led by a CEO who claims to champion free speech. “Of all the books in all the world Mr Free Speech Zuckerberg wants to ban, it’s the one about him,” headlined a Guardian column from Marina Hyde.

At a time when so much is up for grabs within the attention economy, there is a lot for book publishers to think about

All of this speaks to the importance of the book, and those publishers, such as Pan Macmillan in this case, which support authors in saying what some consider should be unsayable. At one point, Wynn-Williams talks about Sheryl Sandberg – until 2022 the COO of Facebook – and her influential title Lean In, asking why it could not have just been distilled into a TED Talk or Facebook post. No shade there, then. Sandberg’s view was that it needed to be a book to get the cut-through she wanted, and spark  a “national conversation”.  Throughout the book there is talk of legacies and lasting achievements, almost as if the executives there are haunted by the ephemeral nature of a type of media that can be manipulated, side-lined and erased, so easily, existing on a platform that can be banned, superceded or turned off.

At a time when so much is up for grabs within the attention economy, there is a lot for book publishers to think about. The furore around The Salt Path suggests readers want to trust what they read in books, particularly because long-form writing can get at the deeper stuff.

Facebook has tried to tell the world that connection is free, but the cost has been a loss of trust. Here then is our advantage. Let’s not be careless with it, people.