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.

The lawsuit says Meta is seeking US$50,000 in damages for each time Wynn-Williams purportedly violates the non-disparagement agreement, putting her under financial duress. She is asking the court to lift the arbitration order and vacate her severance agreement with the company.

Meta said in a statement that its "former employee is trying to use the legal process to sell books, which an arbitrator already ruled broke the agreement she signed with the company when she accepted a large severance payment years ago. Her book is divorced from reality, disparaging and riddled with false claims."

Meta, according to the lawsuit, had obtained an emergency gag order that bars Wynn-Williams and her lawyers from criticising the company or promoting her book. Over the course of more than a year since the book was published, the lawsuit claims, Meta has surveilled her, with company representatives attending her public appearances and photographing her, "all to document that at each event, Ms. Wynn-Williams said nothing about Meta or her book".

Meta, according to the lawsuit, even took issue with Wynn-Williams attending an arts and literary festival in the UK earlier this year, where she sat on a panel, but remained silent, because other panelists were critics of the company.

"Meta is pursuing Ms. Wynn-Williams at the expense of free speech and legal constraints not only because she refused to bow to the greed and power of Meta, Mr. Zuckerberg, and other executives, but also to strike fear into the heart of anyone else who dares to consider speaking the truth about Meta's unlawful and abusive practices in the public interest," the lawsuit says.

-AP