Sarah Wynn-Williams is banned from promoting book after it revealed the Irish government gave Facebook a ‘special phone’ so it could help solve the social media giant’s problems
14 March 2025 — The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) condemns Meta for seeking, and securing, an emergency order from a US court on Wednesday which has resulted in preventing former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams from promoting her book Careless People.
The book was published on Tuesday and is in bookstores this week.
The gag order comes a day after Ms Wynn-Williams’s book detailed how Facebook was given a “special phone” for contacting the Irish government if it encountered any problems in Dublin.
The book also details how, during talks in Davos in 2015, former Taoiseach Enda Kenny sought Meta’s help to ‘build up the credibility’ of the criticised Data Protection Commission by “talking publicly about its audits of Facebook privacy” and the changes Meta made as a consequence.
Ms Wynn-Williams’ memoir also exposes secret deals with the Chinese government, complicity in the Myanmar genocide and sexual misconduct in the C-Suite at Facebook.
Dr Johnny Ryan, director of Enforce, said:
“This is an egregious example of corporate power trampling over the freedom of expression rights of a whistleblower and crucial critic. Ms Wynn-Williams’ explosive claims reaffirm our oft-cited concerns about the poor enforcement of the GDPR by the Data Protection Commission. This kind of silencing has no place in democratic society.”
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism was released in the US, where it is number six on the Amazon chart, on Tuesday. It was published in the UK on Thursday.