A former executive of Meta has accused the tech giant of compromising United States national security and cooperating with the Chinese government to suppress dissent on social media platforms.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, Meta’s former global public policy director, testified before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism on Wednesday, alleging the company worked “hand in glove” with Chinese authorities to develop and test censorship tools.
“I saw Meta executives repeatedly undermine US national security and betray American values,” Wynn-Williams told senators, as reported by CBS News.
She alleged that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, granted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to user data, including data belonging to American citizens. Internal concerns raised by engineers regarding security vulnerabilities were allegedly dismissed by the company’s leadership, including chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Wynn-Williams further claimed that Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s flagship platforms, played a role in assisting Beijing’s censorship machinery.
“Mark Zuckerberg pledged himself a free speech champion. Yet I witnessed Meta working hand in glove with the Chinese Communist Party to construct and test custom-built censorship tools that silenced and censored their critics,” she said.
“One thing the Chinese Communist Party and Mark Zuckerberg share is that they want to silence their critics. I can say that from personal experience,” she added.
Her testimony has reignited scrutiny of Meta’s global business practices and follows the publication of her memoir, Careless People, in March.
The book chronicles her seven-year tenure at the company and alleges systematic ethical failures. A US court temporarily barred her from promoting the memoir, following legal action from Meta.
Meta responded strongly to the testimony, dismissing the allegations as baseless. Company spokesperson Ryan Daniels said: “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.”
He further stated that Wynn-Williams’s claims were “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims.”
Wednesday’s hearing was chaired by Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who accused Meta of trying to suppress Wynn-Williams’s testimony.
“This is a hearing Facebook has tried desperately to prevent,” Hawley said. “The evidence that we have in black and white is a company and leadership that is willing to do anything, anything—work with America’s chief competitor, work with our chief adversary.”
Hawley has since written to Zuckerberg, requesting his appearance before the panel, stating: “The American people deserve to know the truth about your company.”
The Senate hearing comes at a critical time for Meta, which is preparing to face a high-profile antitrust trial in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to dismantle Meta’s corporate structure, which could result in the forced divestment of Instagram and WhatsApp.
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