Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams told US senators in an official testimony that the social media giant was so eager to enter the Chinese market it was willing to provide Beijing with access to the firm’s user data, including that of American citizens.
Meta fought hard in court to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting her book. However, it couldn’t stop her from testifying before a US Senate panel, and she did just so this week, accusing Meta of having misled the public about its operations in China.
According to Wynn-Williams whose book “Careless People” has featured in the US bestseller lists for weeks, Meta’s corporate leadership had agreed to provide China with access to the company’s user data.
Besides, said Wynn-Williams who spent almost seven years at Facebook, one of Meta’s companies, as the director of Global Public Policy, the firm had provided “custom-built censorship tools” for the Chinese Communist Party.
“The American people deserve to know the truth. Meta has been willing to compromise its values, sacrifice the security of its users, and undermine American interests to build its China business. It’s been happening for years, covered up by lies, and continues to this day,” said Wynn-Williams.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was supposedly “personally invested” in Meta’s business ties with China. According to the whistleblower, he was intensely learning to speak Mandarin.
In her testimony, Wynn-Williams even mentioned a “physical pipeline” connecting the US and China. She meant a submarine cable that Meta, together with Google, had planned to build between Los Angeles and Hong Kong in 2016 but changed its route after an outcry within US national security circles.
In response, a Meta spokesperson called her testimony “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims.”
“While Mark Zuckerberg himself was public about our interest in offering our services in China, and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago, the fact is this: we do not operate our services in China today,” Meta said in a statement.
That’s not entirely true, though. Meta is still making money in China, according to its own filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, America’s financial watchdog, for 2024.
“We generate meaningful revenue from a small number of resellers serving advertisers based in China,” said Meta.
Later in the filings, the firm provided the exact numbers: “China revenue was $18.35 billion, $13.69 billion, and $7.40 billion for the years ended December 31st, 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively.”
That’s why Wynn-Williams also said in her testimony that “they began offering products and services in China as early as 2014” and that “it hasn’t stopped.”
“Sadly, most executives are forced by shareholders and greedy markets to prioritize growth and profitability over everything else, while the security and privacy of users are frequently underestimated.”
Dr. Ilia Kolochenko.
According to Dr. Ilia Kolochenko, CEO at ImmuniWeb, a Swiss application security company, even though Wynn-Williams’ claims need to be verified, the situation is still particularly alarming.
“It’s not just about Meta. Many Western tech giants get a considerable part of their income from China, as well as from other foreign states that are not among the best friends of the US, to put it mildly,” Kolochenko told Cybernews.
“Sadly, most executives are forced by shareholders and greedy markets to prioritize growth and profitability over everything else, while the security and privacy of users are frequently underestimated.”
Ironically, that’s also the view the Chinese government seems to hold. In her 2023 book “The New China Playbook,” economist Keyu Jin recalls how Beijing openly accused the country’s largest tech firms of “exploiting their monopoly power, using their data to manipulate consumer preferences, and even illegally selling data to third parties.”
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