The former Meta executive, whose memoir โCarefree Peopleโ contains explosive insider account from her time at the social media giant, sued the company for trying to โsilence her.โ
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Northern California, argues that the tech giantโs private arbitration order barring her from speaking about the company or promoting her best-selling book is invalid. It also alleges that the severance agreement she signed when she left Meta, in which she agreed not to disparage the company, was entered into under duress.
Sarah Wynn-Williams She served as director of global public policy at Facebook, which now operates under parent company Meta Platforms Inc., from 2011 until her departure in 2017. Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders. It also describes Zuckerbergโs alleged efforts to woo Chinese officials. Mehta countered that Wynne-Williams had violated her agreement and written a book full of inaccuracies.
The lawsuit says Mehta is seeking $50,000 in damages for each time Wynn-Williams allegedly violated the non-disparagement agreement by subjecting her to financial pressure. She asks the court to overturn the arbitration order and terminate her agreement to sever relations with the company.
Meta said in a statement that its โformer employee is attempting to use a legal process to sell books, which an arbitrator has already ruled violated the agreement she signed with the company when she accepted a large severance payment years ago. Her book is out of touch, disparaging, and riddled with false allegations.โ
Meta, according to the suit, received an emergency gag order prohibiting Wynn-Williams and her lawyers from criticizing the company or promoting her book. The lawsuit alleges that for more than a year after the bookโs publication, Meta followed her, and company representatives attended her public appearances and photographed her, โall to document that at each event, Ms. Wynn-Williams said nothing about Meta or her book.โ
Mehta, according to the suit, even took issue with Wynne-Williamsโ attendance at the UK Arts and Letters Festival earlier this year, where she participated in a panel but remained silent โ because the other panelists were critics of the company.
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โMeta is targeting Wynne-Williams to the detriment of free speech and legal restrictions, not only because she refused to submit to the greed and power of Meta, Mr. Zuckerberg and other executives, but also to strike fear into the heart of anyone who would dare consider speaking the truth about Metaโs illegal and abusive actions in the public interest,โ the lawsuit states.