Sarah Wynn-Williams Meta memoir exposes how Indian official derailed Facebook’s Free Basics by ‘jugaad’. What happened…

Former Meta employee Sarah Wynn-Williams’ explosive memoir ‘Careless People’, which details her time at the Silicon Valley tech giant, has revealed how an Indian official used simple “jugaad” to derail Facebook’s Free Basics programme in the country, according to a Times of India report.

According to the report, a government office worker (colloquially called babu) at India’s telecom regulator “outfoxed” the company (then known as Facebook) using a very simple technique. Informally, Indians call such methods “jugaad”.

Sarah Wynn-Williams is Meta’s former director of global public policy. A New York Times book review called her book “an ugly, detailed portrait of one of the most powerful companies in the world”, and its leading executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, as per a Reuters report.

Facebook’s Free Basics Blocked by ‘Jugaad’: What Happened?

Going back to 2016, when Mark Zuckerberg’s then-Facebook-now-Meta was trying to introduce its “Free Basics” plan in India, Sarah Wynn-Williams, in her book, notes that “some low-ranking” at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) managed to outfox some of the company’s “brightest minds”, the TOI report said. How, you may ask? By simply clicking an opt-out box.

“Mark (Zuckerberg) and some of the brightest tech minds in the world devoted months to this (Free Basics), and some low-ranking official in India outfoxed them simply by clicking an opt-out box,” Sarah Wynn-Williams wrote.

The book adds that Facebook “created the appearance” of public support using automated emails to “nudge” Indians into sending TRAI emails supporting Free Basics, as per the TOI report. However, the official’s “jugaad” of opting out of all emails from Facebook, created a barrier.

“Someone at TRAI — whoever controlled the email address for the public comments simply opted out of all emails from Facebook,” wrote Sarah Wynn-Williams.

The Free Basics programme was under the regulatory radar over concerns of an alleged violation of net neutrality. The principle of net neutrality is that the internet is free and open to all and nobody owns it. In simple terms, just because the service provider has built a network where the content flows, it does not mean that it can have a say in how the network will be used.

Free Basics was eventually halted in India after regulators found concerns about net neutrality valid.

Facebook Pushed “Full” Tech and Political Influence in India

She added that the Free Basics attempt in India failed despite Facebook’s use of its “full” tech and political influence to induce positive public opinion, the report said.

It noted that the book has Sarah Wynn-Williams recall former COO Sheryl Sandberg’s opinion on the public opposition, “Our policy team is directly engaged with the government, including Prime Minister Modi’s office. We’re lucky this is happening in a place where we have very deep senior relationships in the government, but it’s still going to be hard.”

Meta, in a statement to The Hindu, claimed the book is “out-of-date” and has “false accusations”. The company accused Sarah Wynn-Williams of being “paid by anti-Facebook activists” and claimed that she was “fired for poor performance and toxic behaviours” eight years back (in 2017).

Meta Wins Suit Blocking ‘Careless People’: Updates

Meta Meta Platforms on March 12 won an emergency arbitration ruling to temporarily stop the promotion of the tell-all book “Careless People” by Sarah Wynn-Williams in the US, as per a Reuters report.

The ruling says that Sarah Wynn-Williams should stop promoting the book and, to the extent she could stop further publication. It did not order any action by the publisher. Notably, Careless People is available for purchase in India.