Careless People

I’m not the kind of person to jump at a #tell-all #memoir, but when I saw that Meta was getting legal means to shut down distribution and promotion, I felt more compelled to read it.

Book #14 of 2025: Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams.

I know there’s controversy about how true the book and if some parts are exaggerated, and I get that because some moments seem unreal. It almost reads like satire in some parts because things are so outrageous. But then, looking at the what Zuck has shown us the past few years in terms of his personality, and the criticism of Sandberg and Lean In philosophy…a lot of it seems plausible when you have their kind of money?

And unfortunately, the sexual harassment and lack of support for maternity leave and sickness are the most realistic parts of the book. #MeToo

Either way, it’s a quick read, both entertaining and horrifying. Facebook’s power in world politics is sickening at times.

The approach to 2016 (the self-described “Facebook Election”) and then Mark’s near-complete denial about Facebook’s role in disseminating misinformation is infuriating (though that anecdote did make me have more respect for President Obama). The fight that I have been fighting actively for the past 5+ years, Facebook was (and is) one of the main battlegrounds for so long, and I still see that in the amount of incorrect information my Facebook friends post these days.

It does makes me want to abandon Meta platforms, but at the same time I have to acknowledge that this is where the discourse happens, and this is where the #misinformation is (and sometimes where it emerges).

For now that’s why I stay. Even though Meta does seem to like disinformation and the clicks it drives way more than fact-based content, I and science communicators like me want to stand against that tidal wave.

But whew, this books paints a pretty bleak picture of the forces behind that tidal wave. Our work is cut out for us.