Meta wins bid to prevent Pan Macmillan author and former employee from promoting memoir

An emergency arbitrator in the US has temporarily prohibited Meta’s former director of global public policy and author of the memoir Careless People, Sarah Wynn-Williams, from promoting or further distributing copies of her book. 

The memoir, published in the UK on 13th March by Pan Macmillan and in the US by Flatiron Books (an imprint of Macmillan Books) on 11th March, “details the lengths to which Meta’s leaders were willing to go to achieve growth at any cost” and is full of “never-before-told bombshell revelations”, Pan Macmillan said. 

The book includes allegations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviour during her time at the company.  A Meta spokesperson called the claims “out-of-date and false”.

An emergency arbitration ruling on Wednesday (12th March) found Meta had “provided sufficient grounds that Wynn-Williams had potentially violated her nondisparagement contract with the company” and that Meta would face “immediate and irreparable loss […] in the absence of immediate relief”.

The emergency arbitrator ruled that Wynn-Williams was therefore prevented “from making orally, in writing or otherwise any disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments to any person or entity concerning [Meta]” and “from promoting Careless People on a book tour or otherwise, including with respect to electronic and audio versions of the book”.

“To the extent within Wynn-Williams’ control” she is also prevented “from further publishing or distributing Careless People”. Despite this, a spokesperson for Pan Macmillan told The Bookseller it would continue to publish the book.

A spokesperson for the publisher said: “Careless People is a first-person narrative account of what the author herself, Sarah Wynn-Williams, witnessed during seven years at Meta (formerly Facebook). As publishers, we are committed to upholding freedom of speech and her right to tell her story. Due to a legal process instituted by Meta, the author has been prevented from continuing to participate in the book’s publicity.”

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