Ex-Meta exec tells Senate Zuck dangled US citizen data in bid to enter China

Facebook’s former director of global public policy told a Senate committee that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was willing to do almost anything to get the social network into China – including, she alleged, offering up Americans’ data.

Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism Wednesday, Sarah Wynn-Williams alleged Meta misled the public about its operations in China and was so eager to access the nation’s 1.4 billion citizens that its corporate leadership agreed to provide the Chinese Communist Party with access to user data, including that of Americans.

Facebook’s secret mission to get into China was called ‘Project Aldrin’ and was restricted to need-to-know staff

“Facebook’s secret mission to get into China was called ‘Project Aldrin’ and was restricted to need-to-know staff. There was no bridge too far. Meta built a physical pipeline connecting the United States and China,” she told [PDF] senators in written testimony.

The mention of a “physical pipeline” is a reference to a submarine cable that Google and Meta planned to build between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Following pressure from US national security agencies, who worried that China’s control of Hong Kong represented a security risk, the route of the cable was changed and now connects to Taiwan and the Philippines instead.

“Meta executives ignored warnings that this would provide backdoor access to the Chinese Communist Party, allowing them to intercept the personal data and private messages of American citizens,” Wynn-Williams testified. “The only reason China does not currently have access to US user data through this pipeline is because Congress stepped in.”

Meta criticized her testimony.

“Sarah Wynn-Williams’ testimony is divorced from reality and riddled with false claims,” Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels told The Register, before offering the following view:

Meanwhile, Wynn-Williams – whose memoir Careless People details her nearly seven-year tenure at Facebook – told senators that China is Meta’s second biggest market.

“They began offering products and services in China as early as 2014,” she told the Senate hearing. “That hasn’t stopped. Their own SEC filings from last year show that China is now Meta’s second biggest market.”

A quick look at Meta’s filings with the SEC, America’s financial watchdog, at the end of January 2025 for its 2024 financial year reveals the following from the corporation itself:

Thus, Meta may not “operate … services in China today,” it was taking cash from customers in China last year, at least.

She also said Meta’s openly available Llama AI models have contributed to China’s advancements in artificial intelligence – namely DeepSeek – and suggested these LLMs may be contributing to military applications.

Additionally, Wynn-Williams claimed Meta developed censorship tools in collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party and then the biz publicly lied about doing so. She also stated she filed whistleblower complaints with the SEC and the US Department of Justice after her departure from the tech giant.

According to committee chair Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), Meta tried “desperately to prevent” the hearing from proceeding.

“They have stopped at absolutely nothing to prevent today’s testimony. They have absolutely gone to war to try to prevent it. They have gone scorched earth to prevent her from telling what she knows,” Senator Hawley said.

What is it they are so afraid of? I think that we’ve already got a sense of it. Sarah Wynn-Williams knows the truth about Facebook. That’s what they fear

“They have threatened her with $50,000 in punitive damages every time she mentions Facebook in public even if the statements she is making are true. What is it they are so afraid of?” Hawley added. “I think that we’ve already got a sense of it. Sarah Wynn-Williams knows the truth about Facebook. That’s what they fear.”

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) compared Big Tech’s current behavior to the tobacco industry’s past tactics of hiding evidence its products were harmful, and commended Wynn-Williams for her courage. Durbin called Meta’s denials of operating in China, while accepting substantial advertising revenue from Chinese companies, which explains the above SEC filing, “disingenuous at best.”

Wynn-Williams said she faces a potentially ruinous lawsuit from the mega-corp after speaking out – her book is page after page of more observations and claims about the biz – but that “the American people deserve to know the truth.”

The President of the Senate, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), praised her for coming forward. “Whistleblowers are key to rooting out fraud, waste and abuse,” he opined. “I’ve fought for whistleblowers my entire career. Thank you for bravely being here,” adding he was working on bipartisan legislation to strengthen protections for whistleblowers, including those in the AI industry.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that he was alarmed that Zuckerberg was making multiple visits to the White House in an effort to get federal cases against Meta dismissed. He called the corp’s alleged attempts to silence Wynn-Williams the height of hypocrisy and remarked that China was likely cheering on such efforts.

Wynn-Williams said Facebook’s cooperation with Chinese authorities during her tenure had shocked her.

“Meta has some of the best minds in a generation,” she told the committee. “So who better, if you’re the Chinese Communist Party, to teach you about these technologies than Meta.” ®

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