Whistleblower accuses Meta of undermining US national security through China ties

ANKARA

A former senior Meta executive accused the tech giant of compromising US national security to expand its business in China, according to prepared testimony submitted to a Senate panel, press reports said on Wednesday.

Sarah Wynn-Williams, who served as Meta’s global public policy director from 2011 to 2017, told the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that the company “repeatedly undermined US national security and betrayed American values,” according to Axios.

“They did these things in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion dollar business in China,” the media outlet quoted her as saying.

Wynn-Williams alleged that Meta executives cooperated closely with the Chinese Communist Party, including testing censorship tools and deleting the account of a Chinese dissident living in the US.

“Meta’s dishonesty started with a betrayal of core American values,” she said.

The whistleblower also claimed Meta gave the Chinese government access to user data, including that of American citizens.

“The only reason China does not currently have access to US user data through this pipeline is because Congress stepped in,” she said.

She accused Meta of launching “Project Aldrin,” a covert effort to establish operations in China, and said the company briefed Chinese officials on artificial intelligence as early as 2015.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone dismissed the allegations, calling them “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims.”

He added: “We do not operate our services in China today.”

Wynn-Williams, who has filed whistleblower complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice, said she is under a legal gag order that even restricts her communication with Congress.