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Zuckerberg has long been fascinated by Augustus Caesar, the emperor who transformed a republic into an empire and justified harsh means through the promise of order. That is one version of Rome: the ruler’s version, the story of conquest and extraction. But the classical tradition also gives us Philomela, Lavinia, Cassandra, and Penelope: women whose speech had to be contained because it threatened male power.

Women whose tongues were cut out, who were locked away, in an effort to silence their claims against powerful men. Later in Scotland and England, women were similarly punished with the branks, an iron cage locked over the head with a flat bit that pressed down the tongue, sometimes spiked.

Last week, Sarah Wynn-Williams sat in silence for an hour at the Hay Festival alongside Tim Wu and Carole Cadwalladr. Not silenced by iron, but by paper.

This article explores the tactics used as modern day paper branks: forced arbitration, non disclosure agreements, expensive legal proceedings to make an example out of truth tellers.

Please read and share, and more importantly, buy Sarah's book. While she might be muzzled with paper branks, like Philomena and her loom, Careless People is Sarah's cloth.

When host Stig Abel said “We’re living in the age of the triumphant tech bro,” and asked if legislators or regulators were not powerful enough to stop companies like Meta, X, and TikTok, I said:

“You’d be surprised. You’re absolutely right, we’re living in the age of the tech bro… but at the end of the day, it’s all about incentives. We have to change the incentives that allow for extractive and exploitative business models to persist.”

Thank you, New Mexico.

Meta has the power and resources to actually fix these problems, to create a safe product for the people using it, and to empower those building it. Instead, they threw their hands up.

No, if a company causes harm, they should be stopped.

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY I sued Meta. My case has survived a move to Federal Court, a motion to dismiss, and is now in the discovery stage. you’re invited to my lawsuit’s birthday party, a roundup of what’s been revealed by other whistleblowers and investigations about child safety in Horizon and Meta’s systemic misogyny in the year since I filed:

• March 11: Sarah Wynn-Williams' Careless People Released:

Former Director of Global Public Policy's memoir reveals Meta’s culture of sexual harassment, children seen as collateral damage, and that women who raised concerns were removed.

• April 10: Fairplay's Research and RFI:

Child advocacy nonprofit files FTC complaint alleging Meta violated COPPA in Horizon Worlds, and kids’ exposure to harm in the product.

• June 10: Laura Bates' Guardian Investigation:

"Misogyny in the Metaverse" documents virtual sexual assault, children exposed to explicit content, and complete absence of moderation in Horizon Worlds.

• September 8: Washington Post Investigation:

Naomi Nix and Jon Swaine report that Meta's lawyers deleted evidence, shut down projects, and told researchers to avoid documenting children under 13 in Horizon.

• September 9: Sattizahn & Savage Senate Testimony:

Horizon researchers testify to "funnel of manipulation" where Meta controlled and erased research on kids in VR.

• January 12: Britta Hummel's Departure:

Reality Labs Engineering Manager publishes reflection on leaving after six years. Describes silencing on diversity hiring and child safety, and a culture intolerant of empathetic leadership.

Meta knows about the harms in Horizon and beyond. But they’ve made it structurally impossible for that knowledge to change anything.

Meta knows about their misogynistic culture and the havoc it wreaks on women who speak up within the company. But Zuckerberg goes on podcasts calling for a “more masculine” workplace.

My lawsuit is about what happens when companies build systems designed to silence the people who could actually make them better.

The legal process is one way to destabilize that system. But it won’t be the only way, and it won’t be enough on its own. We need regulatory action. We need continued investigation. We need media divestment. We need deactivated accounts. We need more people willing to speak up, even when it costs them.

And we need to stop accepting the premise that Meta is trustworthy enough for your data and attention, or worse, that this is just how tech works.

I wrote up a recap of my two Washington State Senate testimonies this week in support of SB 5708 on addictive feeds and SB 5784 on AI companions.

In both testimonies, I recount my first hand experience in Horizon Worlds speaking up about the open secret that we were collecting data on kids and exposing them to unknown adults without parental consent or controls, and the lengths Meta went to in order to protect the company instead of the kids. I spoke about how their sophisticated system of harassment and retaliation against those-especially women-who speak up about it ultimately ended my career in tech.

I've been telling this story for almost a year now, including providing testimony for the Federal Trade Commission in April. Meta has never denied my allegations or sent any form of a cease and desist, a practice they're well-practiced in. That really says something.

I'm telling the truth, and so are many others, about how corporate negligence and greed are costing kids and families.