A former Meta executive whose memoir, ‘Careless People’, provides an explosive insider account of her time at the social media giant, has sued the company for attempting to "silence" her.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in northern California, claims the tech giant's private arbitration order barring her from speaking about the company or promoting her bestselling book is invalid. It also argues that the severance agreement she signed when she left Meta, in which she agreed not to disparage the company, was done under duress.

Sarah Wynn-Williams served as director of global public policy at Facebook, now operating under parent company Meta Platforms Inc., from 2011 until her firing in 2017. ‘Careless People’ alleges cruel and otherwise disturbing behaviour by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives. It also describes Zuckerberg's alleged efforts to win favour with Chinese officials. Meta has countered that Wynn-Williams violated her agreement and wrote a book filled with inaccuracies.