Meta to face investigation for censoring former executive, Hawley says 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, is investigating the alleged censorship of a former Meta executive, who testified before Congress last year regarding the company’s alleged foreign ties, according to a July 16 letter he sent to company founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“It certainly violates her freedom of speech, and I think it shows you that Meta is desperately afraid of the truth, and they’re trying to silence anybody who will speak out against them,” Hawley told Heartlander News Thursday.

In March 2025, Meta obtained a gag order against Sarah Wynn-Williams, the company’s former global head of public policy, prohibiting her from criticizing Meta under threat of “severe financial penalties,” Hawley explained in his letter. But she still testified before Congress in April 2025, saying Meta worked with the Chinese Communist Party to censor anti-CCP critics and develop AI models.

“She testified that Meta’s executives knew about the widespread harmful consequences of Meta’s platforms years ago but hid them,” he wrote. “And she testified that you and other executives lied to and misled Congress and the American people about these developments.”

Meta continues to enforce the arbitration order – a legal means of resolving a civil dispute outside traditional court proceedings – “attempting to bankrupt her and subjecting her and her family to constant stress,” Hawley wrote.

“It is telling what your company has not done. Meta has not obtained any judgment that a single statement Ms. Wynn-Williams made is false,” Hawley wrote. “Instead, Meta’s arbitration gag order relies on a contractual restraint without regard to the truth – indeed, the order restrains her from speaking even if what she says is true.”

Hawley gave Zuckerberg until Aug. 14 to provide documentation related to Wynn-Williams, including attorney fees, communications and other litigation or arbitration orders the company has filed against former employees.

“Congress cannot permit giant corporations like Meta to crush good people who blow the whistle on corporate wrongdoing,” Hawley wrote. “My Senate Judiciary Subcommittee is investigating the allegations that you, Meta, and Meta executives made false or misleading statements to Congress and whether any person has acted to obstruct the Subcommittee’s inquiry into Meta’s business ventures in China, its dealings with the Chinese Communist Party, and Meta’s knowledge of the grave harms – including child sex abuse, addictiveness, and bullying – that emanate from its products.”

Meta refuses to address her claims and the countless others regarding sexually explicit material and child pornography that the company allows on its platforms because such practices generate revenue, Hawley said.

“The truth is, predators use Meta and all of Meta’s various sites because they can get to kids that way. The children are totally vulnerable to it,” he told Heartlander News. “Meta knows all of the above, and they won’t do anything because they’re making gobs of money. And I think it’s time we held these people accountable.”