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Heard the author on the radio and requested from the library. Took a while to get as I guess it‘s a popular read. A great insight into the workings of a social media company. I particularly liked the end chapters which comment on very recent times. Another book people should/ could read. I can now understand more the push back from theses companies with Australia bringing in ban on social media for kids. $$ Learnt they don‘t let their kids on it.

3.5 Stars • Sarah Wynn-Williams‘ Careless People tells what it was like working inside Facebook. She starts out hopeful, but ends up disillusioned as she sees the company chase growth and power at all costs—ignoring hate speech, flirting with censorship to get into China, and letting politics get messy on the platform. ⬇️

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. I was already aware of some bits of this story from other sources. But I had no idea of the extent of it. Overall it was an interesting but depressing read, a tale of the company and people whose actions and inactions affect our world with devastating consequences. There is not much hope for a brighter future, the damage already done is enormous, the precedent is set, and now we also have AI to deal with.

I‘m sure you‘ve seen plenty of reviews about this memoir of the author‘s time working for FB and the abuses of power of many kinds, including multiple accounts of sexual harassment from multiple high management people.

Nothing particularly surprised me, but I was simmering through the whole book, except the beginning where SWW felt like she could possibly do good with the company.

This woman has been through some stuff!

#Falling Day 10: #CoffeeAndABook - not just any coffee but pistachio affogatto with chopped pistachios - there is absolutely nothing like it anywhere in the world. The book is harrowing and has made me quit Facebook altogether. Review is forthcoming.

“When you have so many other people doing things for you professionally and personally, you stop taking responsibility for any of it.”

Concerning at the lack of care the leaders have!

I tuned out during the business and policy talk, but enjoyed the personal stories.

While I think the author wants us to see her as a brave whistleblower ( and she is), she must certainly bear some of the blame for the heinous things she describes. You don‘t live and work like that for so long without being complicit. Overall, I was deeply disappointed and often horrified at the ridiculous behavior and dangerous decision-making that results when ordinary people acquire an unimaginable amount of money and power.

27-9 Jul 25 (audiobook)
A shocking memoir by a former director of public policy at Facebook that leaves one wondering where the world is headed. And seriously wondering whether to delete Instagram. Regardless of how much is true or how out of date some of the information is, there are some truly frightening revelations. And the fact that so many of her colleagues simply did not care about the ramifications of their actions is devastating to me.

I listened to this audiobook and found it riveting from start to finish. A former New Zealand diplomat, the author sought out a position at Facebook because she believed it could be a force for good in the world. This story of how little the executives thought about the consequences of their actions and failure to act, how little regard they had and still have for the human beings using their products or in their employ, is genuinely horrifying.

The author unveils the truth about executives at Facebook and it definitely makes you want to delete all Meta accounts. I don‘t find it surprising that there are deals with China that aren‘t in users‘ best interest, but it did disgust me to learn that Facebook capitalizes on teenage girls insecurities. For instance, it targets those that delete selfies with ads for weight loss and beauty products.

Written by a former senior employee at Facebook, it exposes the serious missteps and issues at the management of Facebook and the initiatives it drives. As much as the author is an unreliable narrator there is plenty of independent evidence to believe her narrative on how denigrated the Facebook culture is. I was shocked by the allegations about Sheryl Sandberg‘s behaviour. Overall - gossipy, interesting, compelling. Worth a listen.

Meh. I skimmed the last 1/3. I'm all for this being widely read, if only because they tried to stop it being published. But really, while there's plenty of vile behaviour, there's not really anything all that revelatory. I'm not at all surprised that Meta/FB is run by a bunch of power-hungry children with little to no concept of tact, morality, or diplomacy.

Cont'd in comments

Nothing surprising here. The author should have got out as soon as she saw how soul-less management was. She thought if she stayed, she could change things as an insider. Nope!

I read this so you don‘t have to. The author does absolutely ridiculous things to gain the professional attention & affection of her bosses at Facebook, including answering emails while she‘s supposed to be pushing her baby out into the world. Mark Zuckerburg is an absolute nut job and increasingly a dangerous nut job. And Sheryl Sandberg! Good Lord. Lean In means abuse the underlings. The book is eye opening but not a surprise.

Jumped into last night on my Kindle and liking it.

Christ what a bunch of nincompoops, it is amazing a company run by a group of nepos, slackers, and maroons (in the word of Bugs Bunny) could reach such financial levels....greed and idiocy galore. Became so disgusted i had to stop reading this nonsense. And Sarah please develop some gumption quit being a doormat, stick up for your own sense of morals....jeeze.

Can someone help confirm for me that I'm not Mandela-effecting my brain right now? I've just started the tagged, and she's recounting the shark attack she survived at 13 (I don't think it counts as a spoiler here, it's in the first few pages). I SWEAR I've read/heard this exact story before. Has she told it elsewhere? In an article or on a podcast or something? Does anyone know?

Ooer. This is pretty explosive. Facebook doesn't sound like a great place to work if you didn't go to Harvard, especially if you're a woman. Their operations in Myanmar and China sound particularly sinister, as does using their users' data to target advertising (eg targetting teenage girls with adverts for beauty products and weight loss pills when they delete selfies). A fascinating, eye-opening book.

Reading about the damage Facebook has done to democracy and society made me horrified, depressed and sick to my stomach. I literally felt like throwing up at the chapters about Facebook‘s role in the destabilization of Myanmar and active influence in the 2016 U.S. election. May Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Joel Kaplan, etc. all burn in Hell. 😖

I didn't need this book to tell me the type and degree of human garbage Zuckerberg is, but it was eye opening to get such details. Now that I'm done I need a shower

3/5 - topical, interesting but aggravating book to read.
Everyone in this book, including the author, seemed very amateurish, sometimes incompetent, and yes, careless.
While the author points at clear dysfunctions and at the lack of values, and shares her disenchantment, it was hard for me to take her seriously: her appalling naivety, her indecision about quitting (she actually gets fired) makes me think that she too sold her values for money.

The lady doth protest too much towards the end. You‘re telling me that with her resume she couldn‘t find a single other job or pay for private health insurance for a few months while she did? Sus.

This was just making me mad…Bailed at 36%

2/3 of the way through. Having worked in tech companies for the past 10 years as a software engineer I can say the attitude/culture showcased in this book is not singular to Facebook. I can see how given the same power and financial goals many places I‘ve worked would have pursued similar avenues. Unlike many reviewers I empathize with Sarah feeling stuck and hold less judgement for her. These companies twist your sense of individual power.

By the end of the first chapter I hated everyone in this book, including the author. I believe what she says about how Facebook worked. I just don‘t trust her, only one-eyed person in the land of the blind, pose.

1) I think it was the tagged, which I ordered as soon as I learned Meta was trying to suppress it.

2) I would have thought series, but I think I have ordered more stand-alones. I don't read a lot of series, and when I do, I tend to read them when all the books are out so I can binge them.

@TheSpineView ##Two4Tuesday

Current audiobook… 🤦🏽‍♀️

(2025)

Facebook, ugh.

This is a memoir by a former director of public policy at Facebook. The leadership and corporate culture she describes is even worse than you'd expect even if you dislike Facebook as much as I do. The only thing that doesn't ring quite true is the author's pose of persistent idealism even while collaborating with awful people on their awful goals. Still, I'm grateful for the story and hope the telling helps her conscience

I‘ve been Anti Facebook since day one. My original excuse was I was too old (still am). But I did cave about the time I came here 3 years ago. All for the sake of connecting w/ author communities. Well that didn‘t work out & when I saw that Fuckerberg donated to DJT, I deleted my account that same day. No regrets. I‘m totally not surprised that all the upper management are POS.

Ultimately, this is a not so uncommon tale about how we all fail.

Met someone who runs a book club but never reads the selections. I wouldn‘t want to discuss the book and possibly ruin it for them…would you?

Sarah Wynn-Williams worked persistently to be hired by Facebook, believing it could be a powerful force for good. Here she details her growing discomfort as she worked alongside company leaders including Mark Zuckerberg and Cheryl Sandburg. Particularly disturbing was the growing pattern of profit over ethical principles and partnerships with governments known for human rights violations. I read the audiobook narrated by the author (cont. below)

This was riveting, and I‘ve read some tech memoirs. Maybe it‘s the story telling, the cultural pieces of issues different countries had with facebook, or the juicy bits of gossip of the upper echelons of FB. Whatever it was, this one is engrossing and I highly recommend.

Weird ,but my post about buying this book that details just how much of a piece of garbage Zuckerberg is keeps getting taken off my Instagram......can't wait to read

You are invited to view my rambling May 23rd Friday Reads:

https://youtu.be/KHRLR4_jjVI

#LGBTQ #AsianHeritage #audiobooks #memoir #booktube

Next up

Imagine the daily awful you expect from 🤬uckerberg. This book chronicles that and a bit worse. Who didn‘t think Sandberg was a liar liar 👖🔥 with her fairy tale 💩of a book, but I wouldn‘t have pegged her as a sexual predator. While some readers point out how SWW doesn‘t truly grapple with her complicity, I‘m okay with her saving that for her own therapy sessions because we need more insiders spilling on this greedy & exploitative juggernaut.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Facebook whistleblower lays out some pretty disturbing, yet unsurprising, info. “Influence,” security, misogyny; and, sadly, that‘s just scratching the surface. There‘s a reason Zuckerberg didn‘t want this published.

I‘ve seen other reviewers say something along the lines of “no matter how horrible you think Facebook is, the reality is worse”. I‘m not shocked by anything here, but I am horrified by the depths of the depravity among the executives. I would have liked was more acknowledgment by Wynn-Williams of her own complicity. There‘s an astonishing lack of self awareness, but I appreciate this whistleblowing memoir. ⬇️

As a matter of fact, yes, I did forget to finish my #WeeklyFavorites collage for April until the 10th of May.

@Read4life

Zuck comes off as an absolute wiener. Wynn-Williams spills so much tea about Facebook and those in leadership positions. No wonder the company went to court over it resulting in the order to stop the advertising campaign. Ok, add to TBR. When someone tries to tell me NOT to read something, I‘m immediately reading it. Zuckerberg is a man-child who has been surrounded by enablers. A great, juicy, unsparing listen.

🤬🤬🤬

While this is a sad statement about any workplace, I laughed when I read it because my immediate thought was, “yeah, much like Facebook itself.”

“how things have been going” refers to the sexual harassment and toxic workplace environment that many feel at Facebook. There was even a secret group there. The Feminist Fight Club. In the FFC‘s effort to produce change, these disgusting tech bros would get in the way. If these men were not sexually harassing others, they were turning a blind eye. Collaborators are just as vile as perpetrators.

4.5/5

As bad as I thought Facebook (and social media as a whole) is, it's worse. This was a fairly demoralizing read, but I think it was good to get insight into some of the inner-workings of Facebook.

I get that this whole book is the author‘s mea culpa. I don‘t understand why she feels this need to hire someone for her role before she leaves FB. Find another job. Her husband doesn‘t sound like he likes San Francisco, so being black balled by tech bros shouldn‘t be an issue. And who would want to work for these disgusting excuses of humans anyway? Just find another job and leave.

🤬🤬🤬

I may need to check out Lean In from my library to truly appreciate how vile a person Sandberg is. Another anecdote has Sheryl insisting the author join her in bed on the private jet back from Davos. Apparently, that‘s a thing with Sheryl and her female employees…treating them like dolls. WTAF?

Here‘s just the beginning. They play Cataan next. Mark was poised to win, but Sarah beats him again. When he gets pissed, Sarah goes through all the strategic moves he could have taken to win the game and then broadens the context to how Mark‘s “winner takes all” attitude creates massive issues at Facebook. No wonder this asshat didn‘t want this book published. Now I want more. Who else who‘s witnessed this crap will be brave enough to speak up?

Observations the day after Trump won in 2016. And there‘s so many more that make me 🤮