Sarah Wynn-Williams, an executive turned whistleblower at Facebook parent Meta Platforms, plans to testify before the US Congress that the social media giant threatened American interests while cosying up to China – claims the company said are false.
Wynn-Williams, who served as director of global public policy for the company, will tell the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism on Wednesday that she witnessed executives undermining US national security. The testimony will include allegations that Meta, formerly called Facebook, helped China advance in the artificial intelligence (AI) arms race.
“Meta started briefing the Chinese Communist Party as early as 2015,” Wynn-Williams, who recently published a bestselling memoir titled Careless People about her experience at Facebook, said in prepared remarks obtained by Bloomberg News. “These briefings focused on critical emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. The explicit goal being to help China outcompete American companies.”
In her testimony, Wynn-Williams suggests that there’s a “straight line” to draw from these briefings to China’s current use of Meta’s AI tools to build out its military capabilities – a claim she doesn’t support with details or personal experience. Wynn-Williams left Facebook in 2017.
A representative for Meta said that the testimony is “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims.”
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Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has been public about the company’s past interest in offering services in China “and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said. But “the fact is this: We do not operate our services in China today.”
Stone has also questioned a Reuters article alleging that Chinese researchers linked to the People’s Liberation Army developed an AI model for military use based on Meta’s AI technology, reporting that Wynn-Williams appears to be referencing.
Facebook never succeeded in launching in the country, and the social media platform is still banned there over censorship issues. But Wynn-Williams plans to highlight Meta’s ongoing business with the nation – pointing to corporate filings that reference revenue Meta gets from advertisers in China.
Wynn-Williams’ memoir vaulted to the top of bestseller lists after Meta succeeded in getting an emergency arbitrator to block her from repeating disparaging remarks about the company. Her book has drawn the interest of lawmakers, including Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri who leads the Senate Judiciary subcommittee.
Hawley also joined a bipartisan cohort of lawmakers in early April to investigate Wynn-Williams’ claims that Meta provided AI tools, including surveillance software, to the Chinese Communist Party. – Bloomberg
