Sarah Wynn-Williams at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, DC in April.
Photo: Win McNamee / Getty Images / AFP

Facebook whistleblower New Zealander Sarah Wynn-Williams is being pushed into financial ruin by the UK arbitration system, a British Member of Parliament says.

Wynn-Williams was the former global policy director for the social media platform, now owned by founder Mark Zuckerberg’s parent company Meta, from 2011 to 2017.

She released a book which broke legal agreements she had with Facebook earlier this year.

It recounted her experiences working for the company, including accusations of sexual harassment by a long-time Facebook executive and claims the company explored breaking into the Chinese market by appeasing government censors there.

Meta won a court order barring Wynn-Williams from promoting Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism or from making derogatory statements about Facebook shortly after it was released in March.

At issue was whether her book breached what was believed to be anti-disparagement provisions in her severance agreement with the company.

However, the order failed to stop it from becoming a best seller.

Prior to the US court order being made, Wynn-Williams said she had insisted on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for interviewers to make sure the book was kept secret before it was released.

She told UK podcast The News Agents: “I worried that the company that believes in freedom of speech might try and stop it.”

During a debate on the Employment Rights Bill last week in the British Parliament, Louise Haigh claimed Wynn-Williams was “on the verge of bankruptcy”.

She used the case as an example of why she believed the UK needed the proposed legislation, saying “Meta has served a gagging order on Sarah and is attempting to fine her US$50,000 (NZ$85,000) for every breach of that order.”

Haigh said Meta was seeking to “silence and punish” Wynn-Williams for speaking out against it.

The Guardian reported that Meta said Wynn-Williams had not been forced to make any payments under the agreement.

It also said the company declined to comment on Haigh’s speech.

RNZ has approached Meta for comment.

In March, Meta provided a statement to RNZ in which it called the book “a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives”.

It said Wynn-Williams ceased working at the company eight years ago, and an investigation at the time found she had made “misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment”.

Haigh was speaking to clause 22 of the Bill when she made the comments.

She said the clause detailed new protections for whistleblowers, including banning NDAs that related to harassment or discrimination of victims.

“The widespread misuse of non-disclosure agreements has sustained an environment where abuse and discrimination have been covered up, where silence has been bought, and where perpetrators were protected while victims were pushed aside,” Haigh said.

“It has perpetuated and protected toxic workplace cultures and has allowed systemic and institutional abuse to be ignored.”

The Bill was in its final stages, having already passed the third reading in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

It was now being sent back to the House of Lords for consideration of the House of Commons amendments.

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