On Wednesday, explosive testimony was delivered by a former Meta executive, Sarah Wynn-Williams, before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism. She alleged that Facebook and its leadership, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, had purposely undermined U.S. national security in order to get into the good graces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
She served as Facebook’s Director of Global Public Policy from 2011 to 2018 and stated that the company had been secretly cooperating with Chinese authorities to help develop artificial intelligence tools that would provide China with an advantage in the ongoing AI race.
“These actions were done in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion business in China,” she stated, citing her recent book Careless People, which has now hit the list of Amazon’s top 10 bestsellers.
Accusations of lying to congress and employees
In opening statements, Wynn-Williams called out Meta for lying to the public and Congress, as well as its own shareholders and employees.
“… We are in a high-stakes AI arms race with China,” she warned. “Whilst I was at Meta, I heard executives lie about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party.”
She states that the tech giant began in private with briefings for CCP officials back in 2015 on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Among the most serious accusations was that Meta’s development of AI greatly and perhaps directly favored the Chinese models like DeepSeek.
Meta denies allegations
A sharp rebuttal followed from Meta, rebuffing every word by Wynn-Williams that the statement was “divorced from reality and full of lies.”
“It’s not true that Mark Zuckerberg hid our intention to operate in China. He was very clear about it. The truth is, we do not operate in China today” stated a Meta company spokesman to Fox News Digital.
Wynn-Williams, meanwhile, had a very different account, citing hypocrisy. “The greatest trick Mark Zuckerberg ever pulled was wrapping the American flag around himself while secretly building an $18 billion business in China,” she said.
Account of Chinese dissident removed from facebook
One specific instance that she recalled during her testimony included the deletion of Chinese billionaire dissident Guo Wengui’s Facebook account by Meta, allegedly following pressure from Beijing.
Meta alleged that the account was deleted for violating platform rules regarding sharing of personal information, while Wynn-Williams insinuated that the dispossession was politically motivated so that Meta could placate the Communist Party.
Political costume changes?
Wynn-Williams did not stop with China: she also accused Zuckerberg of changing his political allegiance depending on who is actually in power, “When I was there,P he wanted the president of China to name his child. He was learning Mandarin and censoring content freely.”
Now, she contends, Zuckerberg is trying to hug close to former President Donald Trump, who has now won reelection last November. “This is a man that wears many different costumes,” she said. “We don’t know what the next one will be but it’ll be whatever gets him closest to power.”
The senate investigates as a trial looms
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), who chaired the Wednesday hearings, said that the disclosures warrant deeper scrutiny, especially as Meta is facing off in large pods in antitrust controls within days.
Wynn-Williams’ statements raised alarms about how several powerful tech companies manage their international relations and what that means to American values and security.
Her parting words for lawmakers were, “We cannot let corporate ambition override our national interests.”
Meta’s global reputation on the line
As Meta aims AI business and global digital infrastructure amid growing scrutiny, the whistleblower’s allegations come on the heels of a fresh assault: Meta states it does not include an active operating presence in China, while the allegations made by the whistleblower suggest otherwise.
With an antitrust trial looming and with growing bipartisan concerns about China influencing technology issues, both in the United States and around the world, the company would soon have to face the music-and some very difficult questions-under oath.
