Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams was forced to sit in silence on stage at an event at Hay festival, after lawyers advised her not to speak because of ongoing legal action brought by Meta.

Wynn-Williams, whose bestselling memoir, Careless People, details her years working at Facebook, was due to appear in conversation with the investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr and academic Tim Wu.

Instead, Wynn-Williams sat on stage for the duration of the hour-long discussion between Cadwalladr and Wu, without speaking or responding. She was unable even to nod or shake her head.

Introducing the panel, Cadwalladr said: "I think this might be a Hay first, in which we have an author in a hostage situation. Blink once if you can hear us, Sarah, twice if Zuckerberg is an asshole." [...]

During the event, Cadwalladr read a letter from Wynn-Williams' lawyers outlining the company's latest legal claims. The letter stated that, in March 2026, Meta filed a sanctions motion alleging that Wynn-Williams violates the emergency arbitration order "any time she appears in public in a place where she should know that her book is available for sale and her presence might draw attention to it".

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