Former Meta executive Sara Winn-Williams will testify before the U.S. Congress about the technology company’s collaboration with China. In particular, this concerns Meta’s involvement in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in China, which could be used for military purposes.
This is reported by Бізнес • Медіа
Winn-Williams claims that the company has harmed U.S. interests and misled lawmakers regarding its connections with China in this area. She will appear before the Senate subcommittee on crime and terrorism as part of an investigation into Meta’s potential collaboration with Chinese authorities.
Allegations of Collaboration with the CCP
According to Winn-Williams, Meta secretly assisted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by misleading Congress, company employees, and the American public. She notes that there is a direct correlation between internal Meta presentations to Chinese officials that took place as early as 2015 and recent reports of the Chinese military using the AI model LLaMA developed by Meta.
“There is a clear connection between these briefings and recent reports that China is using Meta’s LLaMA model to develop military AI models,” Winn-Williams stated.
It is worth noting that in January 2025, the Chinese startup DeepSeek released a model that became a competitor to OpenAI, leading to a $600 billion drop in the market value of technology companies and initiating an arms race in the field of AI. Winn-Williams also emphasized that Meta presented its actions in the Chinese market as a way to support the increase of China’s global influence and promote the “Chinese Dream,” as confirmed by internal documents.
“Meta does not deny these facts. They cannot. I have these documents,” she said.
Censorship and Data Access
The former Meta executive also accused the company of developing special tools for censorship in the interests of the CCP and discussing the possibility of transferring user data to Chinese authorities. “I witnessed company executives deciding to grant the Chinese Communist Party access to Meta user data, including that of Americans,” she noted.
The chair of the Senate subcommittee, Josh Hawley, supports the investigation into Winn-Williams’ claims, stating that her testimony could clarify the actions of Meta executives regarding their connections with China. A Meta representative, Andy Stone, called Winn-Williams’ testimony “disconnected from reality and filled with false claims.” He emphasized that the company did consider providing services in China over ten years ago, but currently has no business in that country, which Winn-Williams believes is “another lie.”
These allegations highlight the growing tension between the U.S. and China in the technology and trade sectors, particularly in the context of the tariff policies of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.