Meta is rushing to block the release of memoirs of an explosive narrator claiming fraudulent misdeeds by top brass, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former manipulation chief Sheryl Sandberg.
The social media giant issued an emergency ruling at an arbitration hearing held in Los Angeles on Wednesday, temporarily suspending promotions for “careless people,” written by Facebook's former public policy director Sarah Wynn-Williams. Wynn-Williams reportedly filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC.
The book claims that Sandberg once spent $13,000 on lingerie for herself and later as an assistant to a young woman who invited her to “come to bed” on her own flight home from Europe. Wynn-Williams also accused top executive Joel Kaplan of helping China develop a censorship tool with failed bids to prevent him from blocking his social media apps domestically.
Nicholas Gowen, an emergency arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, sided with Meta's claim that he faced “immediate and irreparable losses” without relief. He also found that Meta “established the possibility of successful contractual non-discrimination claim merits” against Winn Williams.
According to the submission, minutes were made as Wynn-Williams agreed to the arbitration clause in his retirement agreement with Facebook. Wynn-Williams worked for six years on Facebook and was renamed Meta in 2017.
In her ruling, Wynn-Williams was ordered to halt further promotions of the book, make lightly parochial remarks about the meta or its employees, and to stop further distribution of “careless people” within her control.
Book publisher Macmillan published his memoirs through the imprint's Flat Iron Book, attended the hearing, claiming that he was not subject to Win Williams' arbitration agreement with Meta. The arbitrator's ruling did not appear to order a limit to the publisher.
As of Thursday morning, major retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble were still selling books online.
The company says Wynn-Williams has been fired for “deficiency and toxic behavior.”
“The ruling asserts that Sarah Wynn Williams' false book of honor and loss should never have been published.” Meta spokesman Andy Stone wrote in a post on the thread. In addition to a copy of the decision of the Court of Arbitration.
Stone argued that Wynn Williams “deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and avoided the industry's standard fact-checking process to rush to the shelf after eight years of waiting.”
A Meta spokesman said in a previous statement that “investigation at the time determined that she had misled harassment and filed an unfounded allegation,” and that Wynn Williams was “paid by anti-family activists.”
McMillian did not immediately return a request for comment regarding the ruling.
In the book, Wynn Williams argued that Kaplan, who is now head of Meta's global public policy, was offended by his actions.
Wynn Williams claimed that Kaplan had once forced herself on her on the dance floor at a company event, and commented that it was “sultry” while making unwelcome remarks about her husband.
Kaplan is said to have since recovered from a fatal complication during the birth of her second child, and thus, she allegedly plagued Win Williams by email to attend a weekly video conference.
Kaplan was later exempt from fraud following the company's investigation.
Meanwhile, former meta employee Sarah Feinberg has come to defend Kaplan and other executives. With long threaded posts Respond to the book's claims.
“I worked with Joel Kaplan throughout my year on Facebook. He was one of my closest colleagues, and I have never observed that he is anything but professional, thoughtful, strategic and fair,” writes Feinberg.
