An arbitrator has temporarily blocked former Meta executive Sarah Wynn-Williams from promoting her new tell-all memoir, the New York Times reports.
Flatiron published Wynn-Williams’ Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism on Tuesday. The book covers the author’s years as director of global public policy at Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram; a critic for Kirkus wrote of the memoir, “Book: thumbs-up. Subject: frown emoji.”
The memoir has made headlines in the days before and after its publication with its claims of inappropriate behavior by Meta executives. In the book, Wynn-Williams says that Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg asked her to share a bed with her on a flight from Switzerland to the U.S., and that Sandberg asked that she prepare “talking points” for her while Wynn-Williams was in labor.
Meta has slammed the book, with a company spokesperson telling People magazine, “This book is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives.”
Meta sought arbitration to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting the book, which it says is in violation of a nondisparagement contract. Arbitrator Nicholas Gowen sided with Meta, ordering Wynn-Williams to cease promoting the book and to stop “amplifying any further disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments” while arbitration continues.
The Times reports that the ruling did not seem to prohibit Flatiron from continuing to sell the book.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
