Meta wins case over ex-Facebook policy director Sarah Wynn-Williams' memoir

Author Sarah Wynn Williams. Photo: Supplied

Meta has won an emergency ruling in the US to temporarily stop a former director of Facebook, New Zealander Sarah Wynn-Williams, from promoting or further distributing copies of her book.

Wynn-Williams, who used to be the company's global public policy director, was to have appeared on RNZ's Nine to Noon programme on Friday.

Her publisher, Pan Macmillan, said in a statement the book was first person narrative account of what the author herself witnessed during her seven years at the company.

"As publishers, we are committed to upholding freedom of speech and her right to tell her story. Due to legal process instituted by Meta, the author has been prevented from continuing to participate in the book's publicity."

The book, Careless People, includes a series of claims about what she witnessed during her seven years working at Facebook, and reviews and excerpts have made headlines in multiple international media outlets this week.

Meta took a case to the American Arbitration Association, a neutral third party which resolves disputes out of court.

After a hearing this week, Wynn-Williams was told she must refrain from engaging in or "amplifying any further disparaging, crucial or otherwise detrimental comments".

In an interim ruling, the arbitrator found Meta had provided enough evidence that Wynn-Williams had potentially violated her severance contract with the company.

Wynn-Williams did not appear, but her publisher did, arguing the emergency arbitrator did not have jurisdiction over it.

"As publishers, we are committed to upholding freedom of speech and her right to tell her story,'' it said in a statement.

Meta supplied a statement to RNZ, in which it called the book "a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives".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