Thanks to the magic of the Streisand effect, I just heard about #CarelessPeople - a book by former Meta employee Sarah Wynn-Williams.
Apparently the company is FREAKING OUT and seeking legal ways to stop its promotion. I can see why. This article about it in the Times made my jaw drop: web.archive.org/web/2025031022…
I will definitely order it at my local bookshop.
🔗: bookshop.org/p/books/careless-…
Edit: included non-paywalled link (thanks @gemlog)
Book Review: ‘Careless People,’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams
“Careless People,” a memoir by a former Facebook executive, portrays feckless company leaders cozying up to authoritarian regimes.Jennifer Szalai (The New York Times)
This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
reshared this
Michel Patrice
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •It is nice that she is revealing the inner works of Facebook.
But I can’t help thinking that she contributed to the making of the monster, that she most probably greatly benefited from it and that she will keep the wealth she gained from it.
But it is still nice to see this book coming out.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Michel Patrice • • •Michel Patrice
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •True, we need these books, yet I have this little nagging voice in the back of my head.
But nevertheless, we need more of these books.
Leorhall
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elf Burgerman
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •The Explanation - The Media Show: Revealing Facebook - BBC Sounds
BBCMike Noe
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •My camera shoots fascists
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •London Eastfield 🇵🇸
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Thanks for the tip.
Since it's DRM-protected, you can get it from that place (l*b*en.*s) where you can get e-books without DRM.
Pony Lark
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Jason Howard
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •FallsMom 🌻
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •The Mystifying Mad Hatter 🎩
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •maple
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Dave Moskovitz (((❤️)))
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Meercat ✅
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Richard Rathe
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •jeremiah
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Robin
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •DTrasler Writing
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •ExcelAnalytics
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Flowermob
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •7sleepersmusic
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Kalman Reti
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Fat_Farang
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •The New York War Crimes | “All the Consent That’s Fit to Manufacture”
newyorkwarcrimes.comBrian Dear
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Wraithe
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂ reshared this.
Ray Gulick, he/him/wtf
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •#Facebook
#CarelessPeople
@gemlog
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Ray Gulick, he/him/wtf • • •Britstralian
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Britstralian • • •Matthew Hall
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •my jaw didn’t drop as nothing out of Zuck’s world surprises me. And for those who want: Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription.
nytimes.com/2025/03/10/books/r…?
Book Review: ‘Careless People,’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Jennifer Szalai (The New York Times)Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •An update: last night I started reading #CarelessPeople and I cannot emphasize enough HOW GOOD it is. A real page-turner.
No wonder #Meta executives are trying to shut down its promotional tour. They come across as shallow, greedy and irresponsible.
The author wrote in the prelude that working there was "like watching a bunch of fourteen-year-olds who’ve been given superpowers and an ungodly amount of money, as they jet around the world to figure out what power has bought and brought them." 🔥
Liminal witch 🧙♀️ Sarah
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Liminal witch 🧙♀️ Sarah • • •Code of Amor 💘
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •gio
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to gio • • •@stevegio I hear you!
One of my greatest accomplishments in this fight was convincing my entire family (and extended family) plus 98% of my friends to install Signal in 2020... so I could keep communicating with them.
Back in Jan 2020 I couldn't bear staying on Whatsapp one extra minute. I wrote about this here: therealists.org/2020/01/quitti…
gio
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Eveline Sulman 🟥 🇳🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦
in reply to gio • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Eveline Sulman 🟥 🇳🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦 • • •@EvelineSulman @stevegio it’s actually the same in France and Italy - the entire population seems to be on WhatsApp and can’t fathom using anything else.
I was really lucky that I managed to convince my whole family and 99% of my friends to install Signal in Jan 2020 to keep communicating with me ☺️
Mad A. Argon
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •🍄💀Shye Strange💀🍄
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to 🍄💀Shye Strange💀🍄 • • •@shyestrange ha! I’ve been glued to it since the beginning and found already so many juicy bits. Like the meeting with New Zealand’s Prime Minister - I experienced real second hand embarrassment. Zuck comes across as a socially inept Michael Scott.
I’m only at chapter 6 and I can’t wait to read more…
WesDym
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •People are apparently under a delusion that wealth, fame, and power imbue their holders with any augmenting attributes they didn't have before. That's very obviously untrue, if you stop to think about it. If I give some idiot $1M, they're not a better person for it; they're just an idiot with $1M. Same with a jerk or anyone else.
Some of these folks we hear about are authentically successful on their own merits. But a lot are just faking it well.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to WesDym • • •EloPup
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Thx for the tip, will check it out 👍🏻
Not that my book pile isn’t high enough yet, but there are never enough insights around this topic.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to EloPup • • •EloPup
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •That‘s great to hear 🙂!! It definitely just made it to the top of my book shopping list, tho over here the English paper version seems to be quite hard to get at the moment.
Might have sth to do with this:
bbc.com/news/articles/cq5zyq02…
Meta stops former Facebook director from promoting critical memoir
Katie Razzall (BBC News)iSabreman
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •There is an interview with the author on The News Agents. Curiously the viewing figures seem quite low for a rare interview given #Meta blocking promoting the book.
youtu.be/1hXgwseN9s0
- YouTube
youtu.beTim
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •It’s going to be a minute. Might need to buy this one if it’s really that good. Thanks for the recommendation.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Tim • • •@InnerAlien aw! Yeah seems like a long wait.
I got up at 6am to resume reading it before my 4-year-old wakes up 🤗
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Update no. 2:
Yesterday my 4-year-old woke up at 7am thus thwarting my plans to read #CarelessPeople for a good hour.
So today I woke up at 6am to resume reading the book. It’s THAT GOOD.
The leaders at #Meta have been shockingly irresponsible in their decisions since the early days. All they care about? Gathering data and influence and making big bucks. I’m so glad I got out of all their platforms and I’m on the #Fediverse instead.
History books won’t be kind to Zuck, Sandberg et al.
mapto
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Excerpt from #CarelessPeople 📖:
« When we start to run into politicians who put up roadblocks to our expansion, the growth team is quick to suggest that we “juice” the algorithm to help them bolster their Facebook presence. The way they put that? “Let’s dial up the algorithm to give politicians some love.” »
🤯
BTW Javi Olivan, who led the growth team at the time, has been elevated to the role of Meta’s COO (since the departure of Sheryl Sandberg).
🔗: bookshop.org/p/books/careless-…
Julian Dumitrascu
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Chris 🦑
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Still 2/3 to go! #merkel
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •Chris 🦑
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •Chris 🦑
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •@sturmsucht you should have seen my face when I was reading that part. How embarassing!!!
I mean, I would let my toddler win at things but now that she's getting older I understand it's better for her character building to see she can't win every time...
Zuck lives in a whole other galaxy. No wonder he has so much hubris
Chris 🦑
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Totally. A bunch of kids with infinite money and he is their king.
And then the other parts where they want to sacrifice an employee for jail to see if Zuck gets arrested in South Korea. Or the board defining motherhood as a you problem you should not talk about. Or willingly betraying identities of their Hong Kong customers to the Chinese government to be able to enter their market ...
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •@sturmsucht yes yes and yes. I couldn't believe they even considered sending the mom of a 7-month-old infant to a foreign country (where she didn't speak the language) with the possibility of her being arrested and detained.
Don't they say that a sign of sociopathy is complete lack of empathy?
It's abhorrent to see how many influential world leaders (politicians, businessmen) fit the description of "sociopath"
Chris 🦑
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •Chris 🦑
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Chris 🦑 • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •You have to love the savage efficiency of the Streisand effect: Sarah Wynn-Williams' Facebook exposé #CarelessPeople skyrocketed to the top of the NYTimes Bestseller List on its debut week. It's the second most purchased book on Amazon (US) as well.
I'm about halfway through the book and I wish I could be in a book club to discuss it. The anecdotes about Facebook's top leaders and their ineptitude / selfishness are so delicious. Fair and fierce attacks, in beautiful prose.
#books
skribe 🇺🇦
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to skribe 🇺🇦 • • •@skribe please don't remind me about an awesome Fediverse project I have yet to join.
I have way too many Fediverse accounts as it is 😵💫 😅
skribe 🇺🇦
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Third spruce tree on the left
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •As soon as I caught wind that Meta is trying to squash it, I bought an e copy (saving it for this weekend).
If it causes grief to Zuckerman, its worth the $ to me.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Third spruce tree on the left • • •Dr. Juande Santander-Vela
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Jack Yan (甄爵恩)
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •elmine
in reply to Jack Yan (甄爵恩) • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to elmine • • •@elmine beautifully said ❤️
@jackyan
Greengordon
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Probably because sociopaths have the emotional maturity of a child. On #Meta executives:
"working there was "like watching a bunch of fourteen-year-olds who’ve been given superpowers and an ungodly amount of money, as they jet around the world to figure out what power has bought and brought them."
Veronica Olsen 🏳️🌈🇳🇴🌻
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Thanks, I wanted to get that book. Definitely a Streisand effect purchase!
I also added it to my library backup in case it gets pulled for some reason.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Veronica Olsen 🏳️🌈🇳🇴🌻 • • •@veronica you won't regret it - the book is PHENOMENAL (and really well-written). I wish I could just say curl up on a sofa and spend the whole day reading it, but... responsibilities! 😅
And very smart re: your library backup in case it gets pulled
Veronica Olsen 🏳️🌈🇳🇴🌻
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •I'm coming down with something, so that may actually be what I will do. 😁
Got a new eReader with colour highlighter too, and this is the kind of book where I may highlight a lot too!
Veronica Olsen 🏳️🌈🇳🇴🌻
in reply to Veronica Olsen 🏳️🌈🇳🇴🌻 • • •Half way through, and it really is well written. It is also a lot more personal than I expected.
I keep rolling my eyes at the Zuck and his gang though. I can see why he doesn't want it out there!
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Veronica Olsen 🏳️🌈🇳🇴🌻 • • •George Saich
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Kermode
in reply to George Saich • • •I know! Who da thunk right?
@_elena
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Kermode • • •@geos I mean I knew they were terrible, but the book is taking down their status and dignity about 100 notches.
They are embarassingly immature and self-centered and the myriad of anecdotes about their ineptitude and shallowness are sure to sting (in the eyes of the public, too)