A “low-ranking official,” or as some say an office Babu at India’s telecom regulator outsmarted Meta (then Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and some of the ‘brightest tech minds’ in his team with nothing more than a single click, according to explosive claims in a newly released memoir by former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams.
The David versus Goliath moment allegedly occurred in 2016 during Facebook’s aggressive push to save its controversial Free Basics program in India, which was facing regulatory scrutiny for potentially violating net neutrality principles.
Facebook’s mass email campaign backfires
“Mark and some of the brightest tech minds in the world devoted months to this [outreach strategy], and some low-ranking official in India outfoxed them simply by clicking an opt-out box,” Wynn-Williams writes in her book “Careless People,” which Meta is currently trying to block from publication.
The memoir details how Facebook deployed its full arsenal of technological and political influence to sway public opinion about Free Basics. When India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) opened public consultations on whether such programs should be banned, Facebook allegedly orchestrated an unprecedented pressure campaign.
“Our policy team is directly engaged with the government, include Prime Minister Modi’s office,” Wynn-Williams quotes then-COO Sheryl Sandberg as writing in an internal email. “We’re lucky this is happening in a place where we have very deep senior relationships in the government, but it’s still going to be hard.”
Facebook’s extreme measures in India
According to the book, Facebook’s strategy focused on creating “the appearance of public support” through automated emails. The social media giant allegedly turned on a “megaphone that Mark wouldn’t let Sheryl use for [promoting] organ donation” to nudge Indian users into sending approximately 16 million supportive emails to TRAI.
The jugaad – a Hindi term for an innovative, improvised solution – came when Facebook discovered their millions of automated emails weren’t being counted. “Someone at TRAI—whoever controlled the email address for the public comments — simply opted out of all emails from Facebook,” writes Wynn-Williams.
The book makes other startling claims about Facebook’s operations in India, including that the company hired an “ex-police captain” who would “go to jail in a clash between Facebook and the Indian government” if executives were targeted in government raids.
Meta has dismissed the book as containing “out-of-date and previously reported claims” and “false accusations about our executives.” A spokesperson told The Hindu that “Eight years ago, Sarah Wynn-Williams was fired for poor performance and toxic behaviour,” claiming she “has been paid by anti-Facebook activists.”
Despite Meta’s arbitration efforts to halt its publication and promotion in the US, “Careless People” remains available for purchase in India. The company has not specifically contested the claims regarding its operations in India detailed in the memoir.
Free Basics was ultimately prohibited in India for violating net neutrality principles, representing a rare defeat for Zuckerberg’s global expansion ambitions.
