Just over a decade ago, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta outlined a plan to boost Facebook’s popularity in China. Unfortunately for the creator of the most popular social network in history, China turned its back on him, and this situation led to Facebook’s departure from a market with billions of users.
However, ties between China and Meta are increasingly close, and therefore, the statements by Sarah Wynn-Williams (former Facebook executive) have not come as a surprise, despite their impact.
As Ars Technicia points out, Williams alleges that that Meta engaged in covert collaboration with the Chinese government, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence and censorship. The United States and China have been at odds in recent days over the tariff-related controversy, but their battle to dominate the AI sector has led to a multitude of manoeuvres on both sides.
Williams testified that this collaboration is far from new. She claims Meta has been sharing technology with the Chinese Communist Party as far back as 2015.
Meta Has Lied to Employees, Investors, and the Public
According to Sarah Wynn-Williams and other former Meta executives, the collaboration reportedly included censorship tools and access to Meta user data. Williams claimed that Meta lied to employees, investors, Congress and the public, adding that she has internal documents to prove her claims.
In fact, she also claimed that LLaMA, Meta’s AI model, had been used by Chinese institutions for military purposes, a major concern for the U.S. government.
For now, Meta has denied the accusations, but it has done so in a unique way: it has claimed that some of the information is false and other information is outdated. Williams, who is currently under a gag order, will testify again before Congress. In fact, she has asked that institution to intervene, as he hopes Meta will be held accountable for compromising national security.
Mark Zuckerberg, a primary target of the allegations, has yet to issue a statement on the matter, but his role at Meta has once again placed him in the centre of a controversy.