αchilleaςMar 15, 2025
Elena Rossini ⁂

Thanks to the magic of the Streisand effect, I just heard about #CarelessPeople - a book by former Meta employee Sarah Wynn-Williams.

Apparently the company is FREAKING OUT and seeking legal ways to stop its promotion. I can see why. This article about it in the Times made my jaw drop: https://web.archive.org/web/20250310221013/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/books/review/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams.html

I will definitely order it at my local bookshop.

🔗: https://bookshop.org/p/books/careless-people-a-cautionary-tale-of-power-greed-and-lost-idealism/22213433

Edit: included non-paywalled link (thanks @[email protected])

#books

Book Review: ‘Careless People,’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams

“Careless People,” a memoir by a former Facebook executive, portrays feckless company leaders cozying up to authoritarian regimes.

The New York Times
Mar 13, 2025 at 1:12pmWeb
Show threadElena Rossini ⁂Mar 17, 2025

An update: last night I started reading #CarelessPeople and I cannot emphasize enough HOW GOOD it is. A real page-turner.

No wonder #Meta executives are trying to shut down its promotional tour. They come across as shallow, greedy and irresponsible.

The author wrote in the prelude that working there was "like watching a bunch of fourteen-year-olds who’ve been given superpowers and an ungodly amount of money, as they jet around the world to figure out what power has bought and brought them." 🔥

Show threadElena Rossini ⁂Mar 18, 2025

Update no. 2:

Yesterday my 4-year-old woke up at 7am thus thwarting my plans to read #CarelessPeople for a good hour.

So today I woke up at 6am to resume reading the book. It’s THAT GOOD.

The leaders at #Meta have been shockingly irresponsible in their decisions since the early days. All they care about? Gathering data and influence and making big bucks. I’m so glad I got out of all their platforms and I’m on the #Fediverse instead.

History books won’t be kind to Zuck, Sandberg et al.

Show threadmaptoMar 18, 2025
@_elena it looks like history books are not going to get published if the US administration gets it their way
Show threadLiminal witch 🧙‍♀️ SarahMar 17, 2025
@_elena It's not a page turner for me, I have issues with not throwing my ereader across the room after every five pages or so.
Show threadCode of Amor 💘Mar 17, 2025
@_elena ooooooooo 👀
Show threadgioMar 17, 2025
@_elena I just ordered it on bookshop.org. Sounds like a real peek inside this awful company. I’ve been Meta Free for a while now but it’s hard convincing European relatives to stop using WhatsApp.
Show thread🟥 Eveline Sulman 🇳🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦Mar 18, 2025
@stevegio @_elena it is hard here. I think that 95% of the Dutch people are on WhatsApp. I went over to Signal but do far just one contact there. No family, one colleague.
Show threadWesDymMar 17, 2025

@_elena People are apparently under a delusion that wealth, fame, and power imbue their holders with any augmenting attributes they didn't have before. That's very obviously untrue, if you stop to think about it. If I give some idiot $1M, they're not a better person for it; they're just an idiot with $1M. Same with a jerk or anyone else.

Some of these folks we hear about are authentically successful on their own merits. But a lot are just faking it well.

Show threadEloPupMar 17, 2025

@_elena

Thx for the tip, will check it out 👍🏻

Not that my book pile isn’t high enough yet, but there are never enough insights around this topic.

Show threadTimMar 18, 2025
@_elena I’m hold number 107!!!!
It’s going to be a minute. Might need to buy this one if it’s really that good. Thanks for the recommendation.
Show threadMichel PatriceMar 13, 2025

@_elena

It is nice that she is revealing the inner works of Facebook.

But I can’t help thinking that she contributed to the making of the monster, that she most probably greatly benefited from it and that she will keep the wealth she gained from it.

But it is still nice to see this book coming out.

Show threadChuckMar 13, 2025
@MichelPatrice @_elena Like most in the first Trump admin who sat there, did nothing, then wrote books about how bad it was.
Show threadLeorhallMar 13, 2025
@_elena Thanks for sharing, this sounds interesting! I just added it to my wishlist on #Kobo.
Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Mar 13, 2025

@_elena

archive link to avoid paywalls and other shenanigans:

https://archive.ph/57W20

Show threadElf BurgermanMar 13, 2025
@_elena Thanks to BBC, I heard about the book's background today in an interview with Sarah Wynn-Williams: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct6pn1
The Explanation - The Media Show: Revealing Facebook - BBC Sounds

A former Facebook executive describes life inside the company and its leadership culture

BBC
Show threadprince lucijaMar 13, 2025
@_elena for those who cannot get past the subscription popup: https://archive.is/Gq7O8
Show threadMike NoeMar 13, 2025
@_elena just purchased.
Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsMar 13, 2025

@_elena

Also on Libro.FM!

Show threadLondon Eastfield 🇵🇸Mar 13, 2025

@_elena Thanks for the tip.

Since it's DRM-protected, you can get it from that place (l*b*en.*s) where you can get e-books without DRM.

Show threadJason, Human, Average Mar 13, 2025
@_elena Facebook is exactly as gross as we all figured it was. Here's a link that gets around the paywall: https://archive.ph/Gq7O8
Show threadFallsMom 🌻Mar 13, 2025

@_elena

On a waiting list at my library!

Show threadratfactorMar 13, 2025
@FallsMom @_elena Looks like I'm first in line at mine!
Show threadJustNateMar 13, 2025
@_elena For others interested in this, the seller link to Bookshop.org does not let you download the e-book file, so effectively they are renting the title to you until they go under.
Show threadPrivate F. SealeMar 13, 2025
@_elena https://dnyuz.com/2025/03/10/a-facebook-insiders-expose-alleges-bad-behavior-at-the-top/
A Facebook Insider’s Exposé Alleges Bad Behavior at the Top

The publisher of “Careless People” kept the existence of this memoir a secret until a few days ago — with

DNYUZ
Show threadThe Mystifying Mad Hatter 🎩 ☑Mar 13, 2025
@_elena Hopefully @Mastodon 's future books will be more well... uplifting to the masses!
Show threadmapleMar 13, 2025
@_elena The image says "Gift Article" but it isn't, the article is behind a paywall.
Show threadDave Moskovitz (((❤️)))Mar 13, 2025
@_elena Go Kiwi!
Show threadMeercat ✅ 
Mar 13, 2025
@_elena well, we have to read it, then
Show threadDave SaundersMar 13, 2025
@_elena just bought it (ironically) from the Kindle store.
Show threadRichard RatheMar 13, 2025

@_elena

Found the audiobook version on overdrive.com (via my local library). I put it in my queue! 👍

Show threadDTrasler WritingMar 13, 2025
@_elena @[email protected] I'm on the library wait list for this one. We don't ban books in BC...
Show threadExcelAnalyticsMar 13, 2025
@_elena
[Facebook] 'Content moderation was painfully (and lethally) slow, she writes, because the company relied on one contractor who spoke Burmese: a “Burmese guy” based in Dublin, multiple time zones away from both Myanmar and Facebook’s California headquarters. “Myanmar demonstrates better than anywhere the havoc Facebook can wreak when it’s truly ubiquitous.”'
Show threadFlowermobMar 13, 2025
@_elena @[email protected] TY. I just added to the streisand effect by putting the link on reddit!
Show thread7sleepersmusicMar 14, 2025
@_elena @[email protected] Same. Just ordered from #LIteratiBookstore in #AnnArbor 📖 👍 😁
Show threadKalman RetiMar 14, 2025
@_elena @[email protected] I heard about it in a similar fashion and after work drove to my favorite local bookshop to pick up a copy. Stopped after reading three chapters, but only because I have to be up very early tomorrow. Fascinating (and well written) so far. #CarelessPeople
Show threadBrian DearMar 14, 2025

@_elena @[email protected]

Just called my local bookstore and they have 42 copies in stock. It might be 41 tomorrow morning :-)

Show threadBobseeMar 14, 2025
@_elena @gemlog Misunderstood the article about them suppressing Wynn-Williams promotion of the book as suppressing the book itself. So rushed and got it from Amazon before it got entirely suppressed. Seems that hasn't happened yet, but who knows these days. Starts off as a very interesting read.
Show threadFleur BergmanMar 14, 2025
@_elena @Bobsee @gemlog Of all the available facts about Amazon (and its owner), at least some must've crossed your path. You should probably check to see if you didn't misunderstand them too.
Show threadWraitheMar 14, 2025
@_elena @[email protected] Don’t forget you can also use Libby to request it at your library. I had to do a “Deep Search” on the title to turn it up, but there’s already over 100 folks queued up and this kind of demand tells libraries to get more copies.
Show threadBritstralianMar 14, 2025
@_elena @gemlog I went to check on how it was selling on Amazon and hour or so ago...
Show threadMatthew HallMar 15, 2025

@_elena @gemlog my jaw didn’t drop as nothing out of Zuck’s world surprises me. And for those who want: Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/books/review/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams.html?

Book Review: ‘Careless People,’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams

“Careless People,” a memoir by a former Facebook executive, portrays feckless company leaders cozying up to authoritarian regimes.

The New York Times
Show threadMatthew HallMar 15, 2025

@_elena @gemlog Follow-up on the legal shenanigans that Meta is attempting to stifle the author:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/books/review/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams.html?

Book Review: ‘Careless People,’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams

“Careless People,” a memoir by a former Facebook executive, portrays feckless company leaders cozying up to authoritarian regimes.

The New York Times
Show threadVeronica OlsenMar 17, 2025

@_elena Thanks, I wanted to get that book. Definitely a Streisand effect purchase!

I also added it to my library backup in case it gets pulled for some reason.