Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms is facing fresh scrutiny after a whistleblower accused the company of using extreme measures to censor content and quash political dissent in a bid to gain access to the Chinese market.
In a 78-page whistleblower complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April, Sarah Wynn Williams —Meta’s former global policy director for China — alleged that the company was willing to allow the ruling party to oversee all social media content and store data locally to win the approval of the Chinese Communist Party.
Meta, then known as Facebook, devised a censorship system for China in 2015, which included a plan to appoint a “chief editor” authorized to remove content from the social media site and could even shut down the site during periods of “social unrest,” the complaint reviewed by The Washington Post said.
The complaint also alleged that Zuckerberg agreed to target the account of a prominent Chinese dissident living in the United States after receiving pressure from a senior Chinese official—a move the company saw as key to entering the Chinese market.
Wynn-Williams, who was fired from the firm in 2017, has submitted internal Meta documents outlining these plans to support her complaint. She is also set to release a memoir this week titled “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism,” detailing her experiences at the company.
Meanwhile, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement that the...
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