Careless People

The oldest in a family of four children, Wynn-Williams grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand. She recounts a formative experience from her childhood. At the age of 13, she was attacked by a shark and had to fight hard to get it to release her. Rushed to a doctor by her parents, Wynn-Williams was given a tetanus shot and stitches and sent home. The physician told her parents that she might be “dramatic that night” from shock (9).

Experiencing extreme pain and vomiting blood, she had a hard time convincing her parents that something was wrong. Finally, she was rushed to a hospital by helicopter. It turned out that the shark had penetrated her bowel, and its contents were leaking into her stomach. Additionally, her left lung had collapsed. She was lucky to have survived. When her mother told her that the doctors saved her, she took a pen and wrote, “I SAVED MYSELF” (13), while on a ventilator and life support. She was the one who fought to convince her parents that she was in trouble. She believes that this experience made her bolder and more willing to go for things.

As an adult, she attended law school and joined the foreign service because of an idealistic desire to change the world. While working as a diplomat at the United Nations, she felt buried in bureaucracy and took a job at the New Zealand embassy in Washington, DC. In early 2009, she noticed politicians using Facebook. She used the site to communicate with her family in New Zealand, and it became clear to her that “at some point someone was going to use this for persuasion, for rallying people together, for politics” (16). She believed that Facebook would change the world and that, given the information it collects, governments would want to control it. However, the people working at Facebook at this time did not see this potential and did not have anyone working on politics or relations with governments outside the US.

Wynn-Williams sought to convince Facebook to create a position for her focused on international diplomacy, but it was a challenge to reach anyone at Facebook. When Wynn-Williams learned that Marne Levine was hired as vice president of global public policy in 2010, she scanned her friends and discovered that they had one in common: Ed Luce. With a recommendation from Luce, Levine agreed to hear her pitch months later.

Although Levine was not interested in Facebook changing the world, Wynn-Williams got her attention when she noted that governments could stop the growth of the company via regulations. However, she turned Wynn-Williams away because the company was focused on US regulations at the time. Following the Arab Spring in 2011, Levine called the author back to ask if Zuckerberg should take credit for it. Wynn-Williams noted the need for a global strategy, explaining that taking such credit would cause China to keep Facebook out.

Still not employed by Facebook, Wynn-Williams and her partner, Tom, were on a trip when an earthquake hit the author’s hometown in New Zealand. Facebook became the means to discover if people were okay. Wynn-Williams called Levine to tell her about the potential for Facebook in such situations. After a few weeks, Wynn-Williams was hired as the manager of global public policy.

On her first day at work on July 5, 2011, in Facebook’s Washington office, Wynn-Williams left her laptop at home. The administrative assistant sent her back home to get it since there were no desk computers at Facebook.

Her first assignment was to organize the prime minister of New Zealand’s state visit to Facebook’s California office. Zuckerberg refused to meet with him, as he had no interest in politics. The prime minister, who wanted a photo with Zuckerberg, was not pleased to be meeting with Levine’s boss, Elliot Schrage, instead. When the prime minister and his entourage arrived, they came with a “surprisingly aggressive” security detail (38). Zuckerberg, angry about the disruption, emerged from a room. When Wynn-Williams asked if he would like to meet the prime minister, he said no, but the prime minister was within earshot. The prime minister seized the moment and shook hands. He got his photo op.

Sheryl Sandberg arrived to conduct the formal meeting, but that turned out to be utterly without substance. At Facebook, the “engineers g[o]t what they want[ed]” (40), while those on Sandberg’s side were not supposed to bother them.

The following week, the German minister of consumer protection visited Facebook’s Washington office. Extremely skeptical of Facebook’s gathering of personal information, the Germans believed that regulatory oversight was necessary. The meeting was a disaster. Disapproving of the open-plan office “with exposed air ducts” (43), the Germans were taken to a meeting room. There, Sandberg announced that she is Jewish and claimed that this declaration was necessary because of the Holocaust. This created palpable tension. A few weeks later, the German government opened an investigation into Facebook.

At Facebook, most employees had immense wealth. Those who started with the company received stock options. While Facebook had not gone public yet at this time, there was a “thriving market of private investors who pa[id] gobs of money to buy those stock options” (47). Wynn-Williams, in contrast, did not have that kind of money and used most of her salary to cover rent. Besides money, the other “currency that flow[ed] through Facebook [wa]s stamina” (48). Long hours were the norm. Although the offices had lots of perks, such as meals and laundry, the little red book given to employees stated the purpose of those perks, which was to ensure productivity. Employees were encouraged to believe in the mission of the company, its idealism, but it is a business entity.

By early 2012, it became clear the Facebook was reactive and had no vision of its role in world affairs. Thus, a summit was held at the California office for those working on political and policy issues to create such a vision.

To Wynn-Williams’s dismay, the staff suggested an initiative to support the US military. When this was abandoned, Sandberg insisted weeks later that the first initiative to “build relationships with governments around the world” would be organ donation (56). Wynn-Williams highlighted the many problems with this issue, such as diverse regulatory frameworks and values, but Sandberg persisted. It was only because the engineers, who did not want Facebook to engage in advocacy, rejected this proposal that it ultimately died. However, before it did so, Sandberg ordered Wynn-Williams to make a last-ditch appeal for it. Zuckerberg then sent her an email that said, “I am overruling you” (60).