Name: Cassandra Tang's review of Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Item: Careless People
Rating: 4.5
Author: Cassandra Tang

Sarah Wynn-Williams

An explosive memoir charting one woman's career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg's reaction when he learned of Facebook's role in Trump's election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to "lean in."

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade--told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.

A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism

Careless People

Cassandra Tang

They apparently didn’t care. These were sins of omission. It wasn’t the things they did; it was the things they didn’t do.

But a bubble implies flimsy transparency, a diaphanous space where you can see a normal life just beyond your grasp. And what Mark inhabits is more like a thick opaque dome, a murky fortress that separates him from the rest of the world.

When you realize a cartoon fish can achieve more than the United Nations, it’s time to go.

Damian Makki

If I had to sum up what seven years of watching the people running this massive global enterprise taught me, it’s that something else was possible. They really could have chosen to do it all differently and fix so much of what’s been destructive about Facebook.

This cannot be the system Facebook relies on when people are dying. If posts are causing riots in the streets, we can’t be depending on some random contractor in Ireland who’s out to dinner and can’t find his laptop.

How [Mark Zuckerberg] was so clever to buy WhatsApp (he doesn’t mention the spyware Onavo that showed him which apps to buy by giving him confidential usage data, making acquisitions like shooting fish in a barrel).

Facebook does work for a beauty product company tracking when thirteen-to-seventeen-year-old girls delete selfies, so it can serve a beauty ad to them at that moment.

A Trump operative named Brad Parscale ran the operation together with the embedded Facebook staff, and he basically invented a new way for a political campaign to shitpost its way to the White House, targeting voters with misinformation, inflammatory posts, and fundraising messages. Boz, who led the ads team, described it as the “single best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen from any advertiser. Period.”

In the lead-up to the election, this was the constant message inside the company. We called it “the Facebook election” internally, and the company had committed to dominating this election like no other.

If anything, Facebook rewards outsider candidates who post inflammatory content that drives engagement. We charge less money for ads that are more incendiary and reach more people. Trump is using our system the way it’s designed to be used.

I come away from this feeling disgusted with Mark, and truly seeing him differently. That could’ve been me in jail—in Myanmar, South Korea, Thailand, or any of the other places I’ve traveled for Facebook. Or it could have been any member of my team. And I guess I had this last vestige of hope that at the moment one of us was locked up, the cavalry would come to save us. Or at least one of the world’s richest men would do everything in his power. But when it happens, when one of his employees is sitting in jail, instead of doing everything he can, as the most powerful person at the company, Mark obsesses over some stupid post and then goes out to dinner. This seems such an obvious failing of a basic test of normal human decency.

Sadie is very conscious of the benefits of being Sheryl’s “little doll,” as she calls it and having Sheryl tell her she loves her. She’s the one who explained to me the benefits of “being on the pedestal.” She’s acutely aware of others she shares that with. But she’s also very aware of the expectations that come with it. How carefully calibrated the rewards and demands are.

Sheryl once explained the cycle of wealth to me as she saw it. I was complaining that someone I really admired had retired from Facebook at a very young age. I couldn’t understand why they’d do that. What would they do instead that would be so interesting? She said matter-of-factly that they would probably follow the cycle of wealth she’d observed at Google and Facebook: exotic travel for a year or more before becoming bored of that, then transitioning to getting very fit or some other personal goal. After achieving that goal, buying a boat or some other extravagant hobby purchase, and then finally getting divorced or going through some other personal crisis. If they come back from that, maybe they attempt their own start-up or fund or, most likely, philanthropy.

Bastien Vaucher

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what unfolded next in Myanmar, and Facebook's complicity, It wasn't because of some grander vision or any malevolence towards Muslims in the country. Nor a lack of money. My conclusion: It was just that Joel, Elliot, Sheryl, and Mark didn't give a fuck. Joel was a veteran of George W. Bush's White House. An issue in Syria would be met by a wave of his hand and, "Drop a bomb on it. I don't care." A joke, but also who he was. He was the man in charge of those countries for Facebook.

And when it came to Myanmar, those people just didn't matter to him. He couldn't be bothered. There was no greater principle ever offered.

Facebook's advertising team had made this presentation for an Australian client that explains that Instagram and Facebook monitor teenagers' posts, photos, interactions, conversations with friends, visual communications, and internet activity on and off Facebook's platforms and use this data to target young people when they're vulnerable.

I tell Elliot about Joel's behaviour, Joel's scheduling meetings and work for me during maternity leave, and the systemic problems of sexual harassment across his department. Elliot seems both unsur: prised and unconcerned. He listens to me, nods along, says next to nothing. When I'm done talking, he tells me he's sure all of this is solvable and will work itself out. And the meeting's over. He couldn't make it clearer that he doesn't want any part of this. I rise and walk to the door. Elliot starts typing on his laptop.

"And if it doesn't work itself out?" I ask.

Elliot looks up from his laptop and stares me straight in the eyes.

"Well, that would be a shame, but I'd be happy to write you a refer-ence."

I return to work in August 2016. My first day back, Joel decides to do a performance review, as he says "it's performance review season." A quick Google search confirms my suspicion that you are not supposed to be given a performance review of your maternity leave.

In fact, I understand that pushing someone to work during their maternity leave is against the law. Nevertheless.

"You weren't responsive enough," he says.

"In my defence, I was in a coma for some of it."

Joel Kaplan was then head of the policy team at Facebook

"Contributions to politicians in other countries. We need to get moving on channelling money to our key allies offshore, you know, our most influential politicians in other countries."

"Ah, that would be considered bribery and corruption in most of the countries I'm responsible for," I say, careful to strike a neutral tone.

"Except the dictatorships," I offer. "They'll probably take your money."

For a minute I worry that he's seriously considering it.

It really didn't have to be this way. I can't state that strongly enough. If I had to sum up what seven years of watching the people running this massive global enterprise taught me, it's that something else was possible. They really could have chosen to do it all differently and fix so much of what's been destructive about Facebook. At every juncture, there was an opportunity to make different choices; China, Myanmar, elections, hate speech, vulnerable teens. They could've made it right again. A different path was possible. and in the long term, it would've been in their own self-interest too. Facebook, the business, the brand, and the company, would be better off. We all would be better off.

And my bosses seemed deeply and blindly unconcerned about any of this. In fact, just the opposite. Turn after turn they encouraged it. 

They profit from the callous and odious things they do. Which seems so crazy. They could’ve tried to fix these things and still been insanely rich and powerful. They were in the rare situation where the money was there in abundance. They could have afforded to do the right thing. They could have told the truth. They could have exercised basic human decency. It was all within their power. Instead, they focused on commencement speeches, vanity political campaigns, vacation properties, raising artisanal Wagyu beef from macadamia-eating cows, whatever their latest plaything was.

Absolutely fucked-up-in-every-way story of Facebook’s approach to growth and policy. Makes my vague dislike/disinterest in Meta/Mark Zuckerberg/Sheryl Sandberg more of a strong repulsion

Briana Das

First of all, a huge fuck you to everyone at Facebook (or any of those companies tbh), they’re horrible and despicable people.

I really enjoyed this book, a great book about topics that really interest me and she has a nice writing style. Everyone should read this book as it is very educational about SoMe, the consequences it has, and how they manipulate everything and everyone. At the end of the day, just like she says, it is just a business. And it shows.

I do wonder which parts are true, or exaggerated since it is her retelling of the events, but why do I believe her and can imagine Facebook being this fucked? Honestly horrible. I do think parts of it are definitely super biased tho, so you need to be critical. I also think she victimizes herself a lot in terms of “oh I want to leave but I can’t do it because I will loose my house, but I have higher morals because I care of the world and what’s right or wrong”, and yet she stayed in Facebook so long… of course the situation is hard but girl cmon.

It was honestly my favourite non-fiction book I’ve ever read. 

Denisse Garcia Ramírez 

First of all, a huge fuck you to everyone at Facebook (or any of those companies tbh), they’re horrible and despicable people.

I really enjoyed this book, a great book about topics that really interest me and she has a nice writing style. Everyone should read this book as it is very educational about SoMe, the consequences it has, and how they manipulate everything and everyone. At the end of the day, just like she says, it is just a business. And it shows.

I do wonder which parts are true, or exaggerated since it is her retelling of the events, but why do I believe her and can imagine Facebook being this fucked? Honestly horrible. I do think parts of it are definitely super biased tho, so you need to be critical. I also think she victimizes herself a lot in terms of “oh I want to leave but I can’t do it because I will loose my house, but I have higher morals because I care of the world and what’s right or wrong”, and yet she stayed in Facebook so long… of course the situation is hard but girl cmon.

It was honestly my favourite non-fiction book I’ve ever read. 

Honest, frustrating but eye-opening read on Facebook. 

i was a bit skeptical of this in the first few pages, because in truth it is not the most beautifully written, but it quickly showed it didn't have to be. wynn-williams pretty quickly cuts into the meat of her experience at facebook, and unravels it in such a way where despite knowing the lack of care, it feels almost jarring to see it out in plain text. 

the book reads like a desperate plea for absolution, one that makes you wonder how much of this remembrance was tinged with a different color only in hindsight (not to question the truth of the action but rather the writer's feelings in that exact moment), which makes it interesting to see where the author chooses to dig deeper and where she chooses to leisure through.

tiff <3

i was a bit skeptical of this in the first few pages, because in truth it is not the most beautifully written, but it quickly showed it didn't have to be. wynn-williams pretty quickly cuts into the meat of her experience at facebook, and unravels it in such a way where despite knowing the lack of care, it feels almost jarring to see it out in plain text. 

the book reads like a desperate plea for absolution, one that makes you wonder how much of this remembrance was tinged with a different color only in hindsight (not to question the truth of the action but rather the writer's feelings in that exact moment), which makes it interesting to see where the author chooses to dig deeper and where she chooses to leisure through.

A platform that has so much potential to change the world for the better. This is no better than working for a cigarette company. 

Nate

A really good read. Worrying enough that I’ve just deleted my Facebook account!

Alex Watson-Keast

I cannot recommend reading this book enough! In today’s atmosphere, we must be aware of what’s happening around us and who’s contributing to it. I understand now why Zuck was so anxious to block this book from being promoted.

Devika M

jacq bridge

halfmoon

Amelia Hruby

Sarah Erle

This one's a doozy! I stayed up all night to finish it and it's about as eye-opening as you'd expect it to be. First of all, Sarah Wynn-Williams doesn't come across as a capital-W writer, and that's a huge compliment in this case. Her style is very conversational, humorous, and this book was a surprisingly entertaining read overall despite some very hard-to-digest truths.

As you can imagine, it mostly confirms existing suspicions without a single grand reveal. In fact, if you know anything about Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg, or about how Facebook operates, you're not gonna be too surprised by any single piece of information in this memoir—though it's still shocking to see it all laid out like this.

As for Zuckerberg, it paints quite a humane picture of him. It isn't particularly sympathetic, and I'm not suggesting that it should be, but it's also clear that he's not some kind of cartoon supervillain (that's Sandberg's job lol. kidding.) He's an emotionally immature guy with flexible principles, an unlimited amount of resources and a limited interest in politics, who is very smart about some things and hopelessly naive about others. And that naiveté is only exacerbated by his existence in an impenetrable filter bubble. At one point she compares him to a "boy king" and I honestly find that idea much, much scarier than the supervillain thing. Kind of like finding out that your roommate from college, who cannot locate China on a map, has been tasked with safeguarding the nuclear launch codes.

There's plenty of dirt on all kinds of people in this book, but in the end it's as much a condemnation of the larger systemic issues—corruption and capitalist greed, the ad industry, regressive Silicon Valley work culture, the luddism of modern diplomacy and governance—as it is of the actions of any one individual. Yes, some of the people running Facebook are downright awful, and it's obvious that they are ill-equipped to handle the vast responsibility that comes with the job, but ultimately 

 in the world should possess the kind of power that they do, least of all those who are drawn to it.

This one's a doozy! I stayed up all night to finish it and it's about as eye-opening as you'd expect it to be. First of all, Sarah Wynn-Williams doesn't come across as a capital-W writer, and that's a huge compliment in this case. Her style is very conversational, humorous, and this book was a surprisingly entertaining read overall despite some very hard-to-digest truths.

As you can imagine, it mostly confirms existing suspicions without a single grand reveal. In fact, if you know anything about Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg, or about how Facebook operates, you're not gonna be too surprised by any single piece of information in this memoir—though it's still shocking to see it all laid out like this.

As for Zuckerberg, it paints quite a humane picture of him. It isn't particularly sympathetic, and I'm not suggesting that it should be, but it's also clear that he's not some kind of cartoon supervillain (that's Sandberg's job lol. kidding.) He's an emotionally immature guy with flexible principles, an unlimited amount of resources and a limited interest in politics, who is very smart about some things and hopelessly naive about others. And that naiveté is only exacerbated by his existence in an impenetrable filter bubble. At one point she compares him to a "boy king" and I honestly find that idea much, much scarier than the supervillain thing. Kind of like finding out that your roommate from college, who cannot locate China on a map, has been tasked with safeguarding the nuclear launch codes.

There's plenty of dirt on all kinds of people in this book, but in the end it's as much a condemnation of the larger systemic issues—corruption and capitalist greed, the ad industry, regressive Silicon Valley work culture, the luddism of modern diplomacy and governance—as it is of the actions of any one individual. Yes, some of the people running Facebook are downright awful, and it's obvious that they are ill-equipped to handle the vast responsibility that comes with the job, but ultimately nobody in the world should possess the kind of power that they do, least of all those who are drawn to it.

They profit from the callous and odious things they do. Which seems so crazy. They could’ve tried to fix these things and still been insanely rich and powerful. They were in the rare situation where the money was there in abundance. They could have afforded to do the right thing. They could have told the truth. They could have exercised basic human decency. It was all within their power. Instead, they focused on commencement speeches, vanity political campaigns, vacation properties, raising artisanal Wagyu beef from macadamia-eating cows, whatever their latest plaything was.

Cassandra Tang &
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

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Cassandra Tang &Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

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Cassandra Tang &
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams