Careless People tells the story of Sarah Wynn-Williams's years working for Facebook, from the time she first pitched the idea of a Global Policy department to the fledgling company through her unceremonious departure. Through Wynn-Williams' eyes, we see Facebook go from a site just barely out of college to the worldwide monolith it is today. We learn about the usually shady, often unethical, and sometimes illegal things the Facebook leadership did to get there, from targeting children and influencing elections to lying to Congress and infiltrating foreign powers. It's a sobering look at the company to which we've all willingly given so much of our information.
In 2025, it's fairly obvious to most of us that Mark Zuckerberg is a megalomaniacal loser, Sheryl Sandberg is a snake, and Facebook is/was their corrupt playground, but reading a first-person account of the dismissive and toxic attitude the company had towards its employees, its users, and any regulation or ethic is eye-opening. Though she tries to paint herself as the lone voice of reason, Wynn-Williams isn't wholly innocent. It's easy to wonder if her insistence that Facebook looks to the global stage is, in fact, the catalyst for so much of what happens later. The power of Careless People is that, truthfully, Wynn-Williams is just as culpable as the rest of them, but you can't help but root for her because everything else is so much worse.
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
#1 New York Times Bestseller
A 2025 best book of the year so far by The New York Times, The Economist, NPR, and more
"Careless People is darkly funny and genuinely shocking...Not only does [Sarah Wynn-Williams] have the storytelling chops to unspool a gripping narrative; she also delivers the goods." -Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
"When one of the world's most powerful media companies tries to snuff out a book -- amid other alarming attacks on free speech in America like this -- it's time to pull out all the stops." -Ron Charles, The Washington Post
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.