Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) expressed great interest in investigating allegations that a Meta whistleblower has made against the company, specifically its alleged ties to China and the Chinese Communist Party.
Hawley detailed the “explosive” allegations that Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook global policy director, has made against the company, which the senator stated shows that Meta was working “hand in glove” with the CCP. The senator noted these accusations run counter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s previous statements that Meta has “never worked with China,” adding that Zuckerberg’s previous claim of never censoring posts has been rendered false due to Facebook’s handling of the story on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“Here’s the thing that really is astounding to me: Facebook apparently worked with Beijing to build censorship tools that could be used not just against Chinese users, but also against American users,” Hawley stated on Fox News’s The Will Cain Show. “They built facial recognition tools, they built a special kill switch that would allow Beijing to shut down content, to shut down communications in the event they wanted to suppress the news of, like, say, Tiananmen Square. They built other tools that would allow them to track dissidents, and as you said, they apparently got access to American user data. This is incredible stuff, Will!”
Hawley continued that all of these accusations have been denied by Facebook, which is why these accusations are so “explosive.” As such, it “appears” that Facebook was lying to both Congress and the public for multiple years, and vowed that the truth on this matter will be revealed when Wynn-Williams testifies to his subcommittee on Wednesday.
When asked what potential consequences Zuckerberg could face, Hawley said that the Meta CEO could be held in contempt of Congress if he indeed committed perjury. The subcommittee can also refer him to the Justice Department for investigation.
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“We are going to do a full-scale investigation, and I could tell you, as a former prosecutor, we can follow the facts wherever they go, and we will get the truth, and we will make it available to the American people,” Hawley stated.
Last month, Meta won an emergency order to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting her memoir, Careless People, which included accusations she made against Facebook after working at the social media platform for seven years. However, the book’s publisher, Flatiron Books, nor its parent company, Macmillan, were ordered to take any action, with the former stating it is committed to “upholding freedom of speech” and Wynn-Williams’s right “to tell her story.”
