Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism were very open to this information. Their responses underscore that despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent shift to the right, Washington's view of him has yet to fully change, despite reports that he is lobbying President Donald Trump to drop the government's antitrust lawsuit against the company.
"He has recently experimented with a new image, becoming a staunch advocate for free speech after years of advocating for censorship in China and the United States," said subcommittee Chairman Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), noting that conservatives have long accused Meta of suppressing content such as vaccine skepticism and the Hunter Biden laptop incident. "Now those accusations are gone. Now he's on Joe Rogan's show claiming to be Mr. Free Speech, Mr. Make America Great Again, and he's a brand new person and his company is a brand new company. Do you believe this latest reinvention of Mark Zuckerberg?"
"If he believes in free speech so much, why would he silence me?" Wynne-Williams asked. Mehta persuaded the arbitrator to order her to cease making derogatory remarks and to cease further publication and promotion of the book. The book details Mehta's dealings with the Chinese government and allegations that she was sexually harassed by executives. Mehta spokesman Andy Stone called the book "The Unintentional Man" "defamatory," but the book's publisher said it would "continue to support and promote it."
Wyn-Williams also told Hawley that Zuckerberg "is a guy who wears all kinds of different garbs. When I went there, he wanted the Chinese leader to name his first child, he learned Mandarin, he censored whatever he wanted. Now, his new garb is mixed martial arts (MMA) or free speech. We don't know what the next garb will be, but it will definitely be different. Anything that brings him closer to power, he'll wear it."
During the hearing, Wynn-Williams testified that during her tenure at Meta from 2011 to 2017, Zuckerberg was willing to "undermine U.S. national security" in order to curry favor with the Chinese government. She accused Meta of developing "censorship tools" that the Chinese government could use to silence critics and of providing U.S. user data to China.
Meta spokesman Ryan Daniels said in a statement that Wynn-Williams' testimony was "out of touch with reality and filled with false information." Although Mark Zuckerberg himself has publicly stated that Meta intends to provide services in China, and the relevant details were widely reported more than a decade ago, the fact is: we do not currently operate our services in China.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said she found it "ironic" that China was the focus of the hearings because when she was trying to pass a tech antitrust bill, "the one thing that kept getting thrown around me and others working on this was 'You're really going to destroy us, and then China is going to dominate,'" she said. "Your book actually reveals how Facebook is willing to put growth ahead of U.S. national interests in order to curry favor with China."
Lawmakers asked Zuckerberg to testify before the committee in person to clarify their doubts about Zuckerberg's remarks. "Stop trying to silence her, stop trying to silence her, stop trying to hide behind your attorneys and the millions of dollars in legal fees you imposed on her," Hawley said. "Come to this committee, take the oath, sit here and let us question you and tell the American people the truth. We're waiting for you."
Winn-Williams told the subcommittee that her testimony "may be the last time I'm allowed to speak" given legal restrictions. "If we get involved, this won't be the last time you're allowed to speak," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. "What I say to Mark Zuckerberg is, stop silencing Ms. Wynn-Williams and let her tell the truth, and if you have the guts, you can come here and tell us your version of the truth."