A former senior Meta executive has accused the tech giant of compromising U.S. national security in pursuit of business expansion in China, according to prepared testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, multiple reports said Wednesday.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, who served as Meta’s global public policy director from 2011 to 2017, alleged the company “repeatedly undermined U.S. national security and betrayed American values,” Axios reported.
“They did these things in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion business in China,” she told lawmakers, according to the report.
Wynn-Williams claimed Meta executives cooperated closely with the Chinese Communist Party, including testing censorship tools and deleting the account of a Chinese dissident based in the U.S. She said the company’s actions amounted to “a betrayal of core American values.”
She further alleged that Meta granted the Chinese government access to user data, including data from American citizens. “The only reason China does not currently have access to U.S. user data through this pipeline is because Congress stepped in,” she added.
According to her testimony, Meta also launched a covert initiative called “Project Aldrin” to establish operations in China and briefed Chinese officials on artificial intelligence as early as 2015.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone dismissed the accusations as “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims,” adding, “We do not operate our services in China today.”
Wynn-Williams, who has filed whistleblower complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, also said she is under a legal gag order that restricts even her communications with Congress.
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