Meta's aggressive attempts to discredit and silence Sarah Wynn-Williams, the author of "Careless People", a memoir about her time as a policy director at the company, have backfired. The book, which debuted at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list, has now caught the attention of multiple governments, including the United States Congress.

Wynn-Williams' attorneys have filed an emergency motion to dismiss the gag order that Meta won via an arbitrator, arguing that the nondisparagement agreement she signed when she left the company isn't enforceable. The motion reveals that members of the United States Congress, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the Parliament of the European Union have requested to speak with Wynn-Williams about the issues of public concern raised in her memoir.

The issues in question include Meta's coordination with the Chinese Communist Party, its exploitation of emotionally vulnerable teenage girls, and its conduct in the arbitration. These allegations are particularly timely, given Facebook's decade-old effort to operate in China and Mark Zuckerberg's recent efforts to reorient his company to be politically aligned with the Trump administration.

Wynn-Williams' story bears similarities to that of Frances Haugen, Meta's last well-known ex-employee agitator. Both women filed SEC whistleblower complaints before taking their stories to the media, positioning themselves as sober-minded, skeptical outsiders who unsuccessfully tried to make positive change from within. However, unlike Haugen, Wynn-Williams doesn't provide receipts, and many of the criticisms of "Careless People" from Meta insiders focus on details in the book they claim were distorted or completely fabricated.

Several former Facebook employees, including Katie Harbath, an early Facebook policy leader, and Dex Hunter-Torricke, Facebook's former head of executive communications, have come forward to refute Wynn-Williams' retelling of events. They claim that the book contains factual inaccuracies, exaggerations, and omissions, which undermine the broader conversation about Facebook's role in the world.

Despite the pushback, Wynn-Williams' book has garnered significant attention, with Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and former Facebook policy manager Brooke Oberwetter endorsing the book. Oberwetter notes that the vibe captured in the book is "spot on" and that the meetings and events recounted in the book are accurately represented.

The controversy surrounding "Careless People" serves as a test for how one feels about Meta. For many, the book reaffirms the belief that the company's leaders are ruthless, immoral capitalists. For others, it's a hit job that bends reality to enforce a familiar narrative. Ultimately, the attention from Congress may give Wynn-Williams the legal cover to speak freely again, despite Meta's attempts to silence her.

As the situation unfolds, it remains to be seen how Meta will respond to the growing scrutiny. One thing is certain, however: the company's efforts to discredit and silence Wynn-Williams have only added fuel to the fire, drawing more attention to the very issues they sought to suppress.