Why Meta’s attempt to bury this memoir backfired
Talking Points highlights the topics, trends, and technology, defining the media and communications sectors.
Why Meta’s attempt to bury this memoir backfired
It’s the book that Meta doesn’t want you to read, and its taboo popularity is in part credited to the tech company's crisis comms strategy.
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism–the explosive tell-all memoir by former Facebook policy executive Sarah Wynn-Williams–was released less than a month ago and already claimed the title of a bestseller on the New York Times list, at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and countless other retailers–and by a first-time author, might we add.
In her book, Wynn-Williams accuses her superior of sexual harassment, alleging she was fired in retaliation, and describes company leadership as “deeply and blindly unconcerned” with the social media giant’s human rights impact and more.
Although the book was unconventionally announced just a week before its release date–for reasons now obvious–Meta wasted no time kicking preventative damage control into full gear. The tech giant characterized Careless People as “out-of-date” and containing “false accusations,” although, as one X user retorted on a Meta employee’s X thread on the topic: “Are old claims inherently inaccurate?”
Meta then won its emergency arbitration case to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting the memoir, resulting in zero direct PR from the author since its release, but that hasn’t stopped people from talking about it. It’s a classic example of the Streisand effect, which has led to a swell of headlines like “The book Facebook doesn't want you to read” and just about every variation in between. In its first week on shelves alone, the book sold over 60,000 copies.
Trust us, we understand wanting to stop a crisis before it can escalate. But in this case, Meta’s overly assertive approach backfired, driving even more attention to the book than it may have ever had otherwise.
Of course, quick action is key in times of crisis, but patience is also a virtue. Meta’s too-hard, too-fast approach gave Careless People’s claims unneeded credibility to a relatively unknown, first-time author, raising consumers’ curiosity about what could possibly be so damning that the company jumped into defense mode so quickly.
Here’s what we would’ve done differently.
Rather than pique audience’s interest and preemptively go on the offensive before having full visibility into the book’s contents–or any idea of how it’d be received by readers–we would’ve waited for the book to be published, paid close attention to early consumer and media sentiment, and evaluated the best course of action from there.
This is also when extensive scenario planning–preparing for the best and worst outcomes, and everything in between–is your best friend. Meta obviously had some awareness of the book’s contents through its litigation, giving them an essential runway to determine what claims they wanted to refute, and which weren’t worth battling over.
To round out scenario planning, it’s important to remember that your PR toolkit is larger than proactive and reactive statements. Meta could have explored on or off-the-record interviews with reporters who validated contentious claims, issued a blog post outlining how much the company has grown since the book’s “outdated” critiques, and more.
Now, it is worth noting this is a David vs. Goliath situation, and the majority of consumers will inevitably jump at any chance to root against the mega corporation. And let’s be honest, how do you really win a case of he said she said?
But–as any good Carrie Bradshaw column would say–we couldn’t help but wonder, if Meta had let the situation play out rather than engaging before knowing all the facts, would Careless People have experienced the same shelf success and virality? Our bets are on no.
On-Record with Eve Upton-Clark
It feels as if the internet culture beat is only becoming more relevant as time goes on–often blurring the lines of mainstream pop culture in the process.
Given our digitally-engulfed lives, it’s unsurprising to see how these online worlds converge so seamlessly with our everyday, IRL conversations.
Eve Upton-Clark–who covers the topic for Fast Company, in addition to broader culture, tech and business for The Telegraph, Business Insider, and more–thinks as much too.
“Now that so much of our lives are lived online, it’s pretty interchangeable with wider culture,” she told us, adding that there are often more layers to the content we consume once you start peeling them back.
“You have the type of internet culture that exists on TikTok–more fun trends, lighthearted and superficial kinds of things… but then each of those trends, most of them, bleed into something that has a wider cultural discussion.”
That could be understanding one of the internet’s many quirks–like how Reddit helped this tree become Toronto’s hottest attraction–or shifts in how we think and spend, such as why consumers are so willing to buy a $19 single strawberry or yogurt that costs $39 for a 16 oz jar.
She added that view counts and virality don’t always necessarily mean something has a wider cultural impact attached to it, but can help measure how big and widespread the trend is–that goes for editors who may need some convincing too, she says.
And, much like everything else these days, the trend cycles in this space are fast, Eve says. What’s relevant in the cultural zeitgeist one week is rarely still talked about the next–and online, even the most dominant trends can turn out to be fleeting.
Eve acknowledged that speed is a critical part of the job because of this, but also says that “being tapped in” is key.
“Because I exist so much online and consume so much online, it’s kind of natural.”
While Eve mostly looks to TikTok for story inspiration, she says the broader social and digital ecosystems we all participate in give her a full, always-on view into what’s happening.
“One of the ways that journalism has evolved… before the internet existed, you’d get ideas by talking to people in real life. Now you can eavesdrop on thousands of people’s conversations online and see what people are discussing in the comments section, what things are trending, and those are representations of discussions people will be having offline.”
Online conversation and culture will vary from market to market, Eve says, having recently moved from Amsterdam to NYC. “American internet culture is a bit more unhinged,” she laughed–a trend which spans across consumers, politics, and even brands.
Key gaming, esports, and creator trends from GDC, SXSW 2025
From San Francisco to Austin, leaders from the gaming, tech, and creator segments flocked to Game Developers Conferences and SXSW for a few week’s worth of insight and knowledge sharing.
While it’s admittedly impossible to hit every booth, panel, and demo (trust us, we tried), we put together a brief list of the key insights, trends, and announcements overheard during these two tentpole events.
Monica Dismore, Head of Esports at Electronic Arts, talked through how esports has evolved into its present state during the Fast Company Grill at SXSW:
“Early on, esports was the hot thing… Everyone wanted a piece of it but nobody really knew what it was. There was a lot of investment coming in and flooding very immature business models… We’re seeing some amount of divestment and right-sizing of the industry–business models have matured, and we’re starting to see slow and steady investment come back into the space. I think the future looks really bright.”
Fresh off launching a new form of story-based gaming at GDC with Operative Games, CEO Jon Snoddy told VentureBeat how AI is enhancing game development:
“In design we are able to explore environments at a much more complete level than we could in the past which leads to quicker, more confident decision making. In production we are finding lots of opportunities to move faster and expect that to continue to improve as technology matures.”
Back again at the Fast Company Grill later that afternoon, Anne-Margot Rodde, Founder and CEO of Creators Corp, spoke about brand integrations in games, and particularly where some fall flat:
“I think the place where there still needs to be improvement is really understanding the audience and understanding what works. A lot of the time you see branded experiences where the brand is everywhere. It’s not something that the player necessarily wants to see in the game that they love and want to play.”
And not to mention, a bevy of other announcements and product launches including:
Discord revealed Social SDK, a free toolkit that allows developers to leverage the platform’s social infrastructure to enhance their games’ social and multiplayer experiences.
Roblox introduced its Roblox Cube AI tools, the core generative AI system for building 3D objects and scenes, on- and off-platform.
Qualcomm showed off its Snapdragon G Series Gaming Platforms, promising enhanced performance, graphics, and connectivity for upcoming handheld gaming devices in 2025.
The Entertainment Software Association introduced an initiative to provide players with information about accessibility features in video games.
An industry-wide video game workers union launched in partnership with Communications Workers of America and the American Federation of Musicians.
What we’re working on ☕
[WSJ]: “Want to Invest in a Private Company? All It Takes Is $5,000”
[Pocketgamer.com]: “Subway Surfers to Cross Over With Crossy Road in New Collaboration Event”
[Verge Magazine]: “eChampions League Returns in May 2025 With All-New Format That Mirror UEFA Champions League”
[Mashable]: “Character.AI launches parental supervision feature”
[Dot Esports]: “ALGS returns to the United States for biggest Apex LAN in history”
[Esports.gg]: “M80 and IMG Academy launch esports camp for League of Legends, VALORANT, and more”
Story ideas, feedback, or just want to get in touch? Email us at contact@jsapartners.co or drop us a line on LinkedIn.
Excellent observations about Meta!