Whistleblower: Meta Execs 'Lied About What They Were Doing With The Chinese Communist Party'

2 days ago

Sarah Wynne-Williams, former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, gives her opening statement at Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00leaders across the globe. She heard their plans for China. She's no ordinary whistleblower and

00:04she comes to tell us not merely about what has happened, but also what is coming. Now it is our

00:09practice as when Williams and the judiciary committee and its subcommittees to swear in

00:13our witnesses before they testify. So if you would, let me invite you to rise, raise your right hand

00:18and we'll get started. Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give is the truth,

00:22the whole truth and nothing but the truth? So help you God. Thank you very much. We'd love to

00:27hear your opening statement. Take as long as you need. Chairman Hawley, Ranking Member Durbin

00:35and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

00:44My name is Sarah Wynne-Williams and I served as the Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook,

00:49now META, for nearly seven years starting in 2011. Throughout those seven years,

00:56I saw META executives repeatedly undermine U.S. national security and betray American values.

01:03They did these things in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion business in China.

01:13We are engaged in a high-stakes AI arms race against China. And during my time at META,

01:21company executives lied about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party to employees,

01:28shareholders, Congress, and the American public. I sit before this committee today to set the record

01:37straight about these illegal and dangerous activities. META's dishonesty started with a betrayal

01:47of core American values. Mark Zuckerberg pledged himself a free speech champion. Yet I witnessed

01:57META work hand in glove with the Chinese Communist Party to construct and test custom-built censorship

02:06tools that silenced and censored their critics. When Beijing demanded that Facebook delete the account

02:14of a prominent Chinese dissident living on American soil, they did it. And then lied to Congress when asked

02:23about the incident in a Senate hearing. The willingness to censor was not the only troubling thing I witnessed.

02:32I watched as executives decided to provide the Chinese Communist Party with access to META user data,

02:38including that of Americans. META does not dispute these facts. They can't. I have the documents.

02:47As recently as this Monday, they claim that they do not operate their services in China. Another lie.

02:57In fact, they began offering products and services in China as early as 2014. That hasn't stopped.

03:05Their own SEC filings from last year show that China is now META's second biggest market.

03:16Meanwhile, META's AI model, LAMA, has contributed significantly to Chinese advances in AI technologies

03:25like DeepSeq. Facebook's secret mission to get into China was called Project Aldrin

03:32and was restricted to need-to-know staff. There was no bridge too far. META built a physical pipeline

03:42connecting the United States and China. META executives ignored warnings that this would provide

03:50backdoor access to the Chinese Communist Party, allowing them to intercept the personal data

03:56and private messages of American citizens. The only reason China does not currently have access to US

04:04user data through this pipeline is because Congress stepped in. META started briefing the Chinese Communist

04:12Party as early as 2015. These briefings focused on critical emerging technologies, including artificial

04:20intelligence. The explicit goal being to help China out-compete American companies. There's a straight line

04:31you can draw from these briefings to the recent revelations that China is developing AI models for

04:37military use relying on META's LAMA model. META's internal documents describe their sales pitch for why China should

04:48allow them into the market by, quote, helping China increase global influence and promote the China dream.

04:58The truth about what has gone on in China matters. I filed a shareholder resolution asking META's board to

05:04investigate its activity in China, and I filed whistleblower complaints with the SEC and the DOJ.

05:10The measure of how important these truths are is directly proportionate to the ferocity of META's efforts to censor and intimidate me.

05:25I relied on their commitment given in 2018 that they would waive their rights to pursue forced arbitration.

05:31Despite that public commitment, they've bought a case against me for hundreds of millions of dollars.

05:38Now they have a legal gag order that silences me, even as META and their proxies spread lies about me.

05:48This order is so expensive that it prohibits me from speaking with members of Congress.

05:55The gag order was sought by a company whose CEO claims to be a champion of free speech.

06:03The American people deserve to know the truth.

06:11META has been willing to compromise its values, sacrifice the security of its users,

06:18and undermine American interests to build its China business.

06:22It's been happening for years, covered up by lies, and continues to this day.

06:31I am here at considerable personal risk because you have the power and the authority to hold them accountable.

06:42Thank you, Ms. Wynne-Williams.

06:44We're going to have eight-minute rounds of questions.

Whistleblower: Meta Execs 'Lied About What They Were Doing With The Chinese Communist Party'

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