Whistleblower and former Meta employee Sarah Wynn-Williams sat in silence at the Hay Festival in Wales last weekend, reportedly barred from speaking due to the tech giant's legal proceedings against her. However in this case, her silence was arguably more effective than any words she might have said.
Entitled "Power of Tech," Sunday's Hay Festival panel was billed as a "rare opportunity to hear from the people who understand Big Tech from the inside." In addition to Wynn-Williams, this included Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu and investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr."This candid discussion pulls back the curtain on the unprecedented influence of social media, the hidden forces shaping our online lives, and the urgent questions about democracy, privacy and accountability in the digital age," read the panel description.
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However, the planned panel ended up being more of a conversation between Wu and Cadwalladr, with Wynn-Williams sitting silently between them."As a charity, we exist to support the open and free exchange of ideas, and we will resist any force to the contrary," Hay Festival programme director Helen Bagnall said in her introduction of the panel. "Since Wynn-Williams' Meta expose — Careless People — was published in March 2025, she has faced immense legal pressure. Today, on the advice of her lawyers, she is unable to speak, but joins us on stage alongside Tim and Carole in an important act of solidarity for the silenced."
