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The Hindu
27-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Careless People: Inside Facebook's Failures and Ethics Crisis
Published : Jun 27, 2025 15:46 IST - 5 MINS READ Sarah Wynn-Williams' Careless People is a closely observed account of Facebook's ascent to global prominence and the persistent failure of its leadership to recognise or address the implications of that growth. The book avoids the tone of sensational exposé. Its focus is institutional, procedural, and grounded in lived experience. Wynn-Williams served as Facebook's Director of Global Public Policy from 2011 to 2017 and worked directly with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg on issues relating to foreign governments, regulation, and strategic political risk. Her entry into the company was self-initiated. At the time, Facebook had no international policy team and no meaningful engagement with foreign state actors. Wynn-Williams identified this as a critical gap, given the company's growing influence over speech, access to information, and political mobilisation. Her proposal was met with limited interest. Executives dismissed the need for a diplomatic or policy-oriented function. Facebook operated with the assumption that global politics would remain peripheral to its business. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism By Sarah Wynn-Williams Flatiron Books, 2025 Pages: 400 Price: Rs.899 This assumption came under strain as the platform became a site for organising political movements and circulating disinformation. The Arab Spring marked a turning point in Facebook's visibility on the international stage. Despite this, Wynn-Williams describes a consistent pattern of reactive decision-making. Policy frameworks were created in response to controversy or regulatory pressure, rather than through internal forecasting or principled planning. Also Read | Facebook owner Meta is planning a potential Twitter rival Wynn-Williams presents Mark Zuckerberg as technically capable and highly focused on engineering outcomes, but uninterested in public governance or the ethical consequences of platform decisions. Sheryl Sandberg emerges as more attuned to external perception, although her interventions were framed in communications language and had limited operational impact. There was no sustained effort within the company to develop ethical guidelines for speech, privacy, or civic disruption. Decisions about platform rules were delegated to teams with minimal institutional memory and limited understanding of regional political dynamics. A controlled, clear account of institutional decay The book contains an extended reflection on Wynn-Williams' attempts to introduce early-warning systems for geopolitical flashpoints, including proposals for structured risk review processes. Most of these proposals were rejected or deferred. Her colleagues considered them unnecessary, or believed that they would slow the company's capacity to scale. She identifies this tendency as part of a broader problem. The firm viewed growth metrics as the primary indicator of success. Political considerations were treated as reputation management rather than structural concerns. This becomes particularly visible in her account of Myanmar, where Facebook ignored sustained internal warnings about the platform's role in amplifying anti-Rohingya hate speech. Efforts to improve moderation or restrict ethnic slurs were deprioritised, even as user growth accelerated and offline targeted violence intensified. The narrative is interspersed with personal reflections. Wynn-Williams recounts a near-fatal shark attack at the age of thirteen, an experience that shaped her instinct for survival and confrontation with authority. This personal history informs her view of institutional passivity and her frustration with a corporate culture that consistently deprioritised accountability. Her tone remains composed. She avoids self-pity or moral grandstanding. The result is a controlled and clear account of institutional decay. The title, drawn from the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, is used here to describe the behaviour of actors who possess influence without consequences. The carelessness that Wynn-Williams identifies is not incidental. It results from a structural configuration that separates decisions from responsibility. Facebook's platform design encouraged maximal engagement. It offered limited tools for transparency or independent oversight. The leadership considered these conditions necessary for innovation and user retention. The book advances several contributions to the understanding of global platform governance. First, it documents the internal barriers to reform that exist even when individual employees raise ethical concerns. Second, it describes how private infrastructure has become the default venue for political discourse in many parts of the world. In the absence of external constraints, private platforms make decisions that affect public life without mechanisms for appeal, justification, or contestation. Third, it presents an insider's account of how international policy work is subordinated to domestic business interests, even when the company operates in hundreds of jurisdictions. No exaggerated conclusions The book avoids exaggerated conclusions. It presents Facebook as an organisation structured around product development and growth, with limited interest in democratic accountability. It also resists attributing systemic failure to individual malice. Wynn-Williams shows how institutional culture, incentives, and habits of leadership produced outcomes that were difficult to challenge from within. Careless People contributes to the literature on platform power, digital governance, and institutional design. It complements academic and journalistic work on surveillance capitalism and algorithmic governance by supplying a primary source account of how decision-making unfolded inside a dominant technology firm. It will be of interest to policymakers, scholars, and others concerned with the interaction between corporate platforms and the public sphere. Also Read | Hire and fire at will: What do global tech lay-offs mean for India? Wynn-Williams presents no theory of reform. Her aim is to document what happened, how decisions were made, and what structures prevented accountability. The narrative closes without prescriptions. The book serves as evidence of the limits of voluntary ethics in private institutions and the consequences of permitting firms to mediate public communication on a global scale without enforceable obligations. What Careless People ultimately reveals is how a generation that built the most powerful communication system in human history chose, at every turn, to treat that power as someone else's problem. John Simte is an advocate based in New Delhi.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Former Disney Star Announces Cookbook After 'Challenging' Food Relationship
Former Disney Star Announces Cookbook After 'Challenging' Food Relationship originally appeared on Parade. Demi Lovato announced that she's releasing a cookbook after years of food and body image struggles. The former Disney Channel star's debut cookbook, ONE PLATE AT A TIME: Recipes for Finding Freedom with Food, is set to be released on March 31, 2026, by Flatiron Books. "Demi Lovato's cooking journey started when she was almost thirty. After years of navigating a challenging relationship with food, she found that learning to cook — discovering how to truly nourish herself in mind, body, and spirit — was a revelation," the book's description reads. "It was in the kitchen, experimenting with flavors, connecting with loved ones, and channeling her creativity in a new way — that she truly began to appreciate and celebrate the joy of food." In the book, Lovato, 32, will welcome "everyone into the kitchen with a collection of more than eighty recipes, all created to emphasize enjoyment over perfection." The cookbook will include a variety of recipes ranging from "breakfast to dinner, comfort foods to fast food-inspired favorites, soups to salads, and even go-to sweet treats." "Filled with beautiful food photography as well as snapshots that give fans a peek into Demi's home life, personal anecdotes, pantry tips, and cooking hacks, this is a cookbook for Demi Lovato fans, for people who struggle to enjoy food without guilt, and for anyone looking for a gentler, more grounded approach to cooking," the synopsis concludes. "One Plate at a Time is Demi's set list for a delicious new way of thinking about food and how it fits into our lives." Parade Daily🎬 🎬 Lovato announced her latest career venture after years of struggling with an eating disorder. 'I have a treatment team that I work with that helps me stay in recovery, and I've been in recovery from bulimia for five, going on six, years now,' she said while appearing on an October 2024 episode of Penn Badgley's "Podcrushed" podcast. 'I'm trying to learn body acceptance rather than body positivity, because body positivity feels like, 'I can't even reach that yet.' I have a nutritionist and a therapist that specializes in eating disorders.' She hinted at her love for cooking in the interview, saying that making meals at home feels like 'the biggest 'F--k you'' to her eating disorder. 'The main thing that I'm working on is just body acceptance, and looking in the mirror and being like, 'This body is strong … This body saved my life and fought for my life when I overdosed. This body is a miracle,'" Lovato added. Former Disney Star Announces Cookbook After 'Challenging' Food Relationship first appeared on Parade on Jun 25, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 25, 2025, where it first appeared.
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
Demi Lovato announces debut cookbook 'One Plate at a Time'
Demi Lovato is adding another title to her resume -- and it's not an onscreen credit or pop album, but "cookbook author." Lovato's new cookbook, "One Plate at a Time: Recipes for Finding Freedom with Food," will be published next spring by Flatiron Books, the publisher announced Wednesday. Lovato shared the news on Instagram with a video in her kitchen showing fans her version of avocado toast with a crispy fried egg. "Stepping into the kitchen and learning how to cook has been such an important part of my recovery and healing my relationship with food," she wrote in the caption. "This book is filled with simple, comforting recipes that have allowed me to reconnect with myself and find both freedom and joy in my kitchen -- feelings I never thought I could experience." The former Disney Channel star has been open in the past about her mental health struggles, substance abuse and disordered eating. In her post Wednesday, Lovato said cooking "has allowed me to see cooking as an act of love and kindness to myself and those in my life, and I hope this book can bring that same feeling into your home too. " She called the book "a big f--- you to my eating disorder." Lovato's cooking journey began when she was almost 30, according to the publisher's press release. "After years of navigating a challenging relationship with food, she found that learning to cook -- discovering how to truly nourish herself in mind, body, and spirit -- was a revelation," the release stated. "One Plate at a Time: Recipes for Finding Freedom with Food" will hit shelves March 31, 2026, and is available for pre-order now.
USA Today
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Demi Lovato announces new cookbook to help others heal relationship with food
Demi Lovato is cooking up something new – and no, it's not an album. The pop star, 32, announced Wednesday, June 25, the release of a new cookbook, titled "One Plate at a Time: Recipes for Finding Freedom with Food" (Flatiron Books, pp. 256, out March 31, 2026) next spring. Lovato, who has been open about her struggles with bulimia and other eating disorders, told fans on social media that the project was born out of her own healing journey with food. "Stepping into the kitchen and learning how to cook has been such an important part of my recovery and healing my relationship with food," she captioned a post on Instagram. "The book is filled with simple, comforting recipes that have allowed me to reconnect with myself and find both freedom and joy in my kitchen – feelings that I never thought I could experience." In an accompanying video, Lovato was seen pan-frying bread and an egg for a California classic: avocado toast. Lovato, whose Disney Channel stardom catapulted her to fame at a young age, has been candid about her struggles with mental health, substance abuse, and disordered eating. The move to release a cookbook mirrors Lovato's knack for diving into, rather than shying away from, the defining challenges of life in the public eye. "It has allowed me to see cooking as an act of love and kindness to myself and those in my life," Lovato wrote of the project. "I hope this book can bring that same feeling in your home too." Lovato's husband, Jordan "Jutes" Lutes, whom she married in May, voiced support in the comment section, writing, "Sooo proud of u baby 🖤🖤🖤🖤 u work so hard on everything u do and watching u on this journey has been inspiring 😘 I love u so much! Ps ur avocado toast is on the long list of reasons why ur my dream wife." Demi Lovato marries Jordan 'Jutes' Lutes Wedding featured Paris Hilton, Goo Goo Dolls Lovato joins a growing club of celebrities wading into the culinary world, including fellow Disney alum Selena Gomez, who starred on Apple TV's "Selena + Chef," and Chrissy Teigen, who has several cookbooks of her own. Lovato's book may take a more holistic tack, however, as she explores not only the recipes that make something worth eating, but the feelings that can make the experience less freeing. Lovato's approach aligns with movements like intuitive eating, which removes stigmas perpetuated by diet culture. Though online diets are often filled with rigid rules and exclusions, the healthiest way to eat takes into account your mental and emotional health as well, experts previously told USA TODAY. Demi Lovato excavates demons with honesty on new album: 'I can't believe I'm not dead,' she sings "If we're doing actions that support our physical health but they are harming other aspects of health, then it's not really healthy," said Kat Benson, a registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching. As for new music, Lovatics need not fret. In a cheeky teaser, the singer seemed to promise a new project on the horizon. "Don't worry, I've been cooking outside of the kitchen too..." she wrote. If you or someone you know is struggling with body image or eating concerns, contact The National Alliance for Eating Disorders' free therapist-run helpline at 866-662-1235 for emotional support or treatment referrals. If you are in crisis or need immediate, 24/7 support, text "ALLIANCE" to 741741.
Los Angeles Times
20-05-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
You need more than Ozempic to fight food addiction. Here's how
Are cookies and chips the new cigarettes? And soda, breakfast cereals and ice cream the new opioids? In his new book, 'Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight' (Flatiron Books), former FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler argues that ultraprocessed foods — meaning 'irresistible, highly processed, highly palatable, energy-dense, high-glycemic foods,' as he describes them — have been purposefully engineered by Big Food to be addictive. He calls them 'ultraformulated' instead of 'ultraprocessed' so as to highlight the deliberate intent on the part of food manufacturers. As a result, 41.9% of adults in the U.S. struggle with obesity, he says. And by 2030, he projects about half of us will. It's a 'health catastrophe,' Kessler says, 'that has reached its apex on every level.' Toxic or visceral fat — meaning fat around our internal organs — has led to a rise in diseases and conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, blood clots, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke and certain cancers. GLP-1 weight loss drugs, such as Wegovy and Zepbound, have helped millions of people shed weight and curb food cravings. But they create additional health problems, Kessler says, and there's not enough scientific data accrued yet to speak to their efficacy or safety, long-term. It's a topic Kessler is intimately familiar with. He's battled food addiction since childhood, growing up in New York, and his addiction ballooned in college and medical school when sub sandwiches and chicken wings were his rewards for studying hard. He's since struggled with managing the side effects of GLP-1 drugs. To reverse the obesity crisis, says Kessler, we need to better understand addiction itself: how ultraprocessed foods take hold of our rational brain. We must also create a new paradigm for addiction, Kessler says, as the current one views addicts through the lens of weakness. In his book, Kessler urges us to recognize that obesity is a chronic condition that needs to be treated as such. The Times spoke with Kessler about healthy weight loss strategies for the long-term, guidelines for using GLP-1s safely, the body positivity movement and improving lifespan. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. In the book, you talk about 'the elephant in the room' when it comes to struggles around weight loss today. What is it? We've failed to recognize how difficult it is to escape the pull of food addiction and overcome our brain's built-in reward response to these ultraformulated foods that flood our food supply. I'm not talking about cocaine or amphetamines that excessively hijack the dopamine circuits. But the addictive circuits are part of all of us. We are all wired to focus on the most salient stimuli in our environment. And for many of us, that stimuli are these ultraformulated foods. Food is very, very powerful in changing how we feel. It's not a question of willpower. Our bodies have experienced an insidious decline over the past half a century. And that's been caused by this never-ending consumption of foods that can trigger the addictive circuits. How can we 'quiet the noise,' as you say, around food addiction? It's the interaction between the stimuli in our environment and our brains. Change our environment, and we can remarkably change what's going on in our brains. [Environment] is everything outside our bodies that we interact with, from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. What you put on your TV, what fast food restaurants you pass by on the way to work, we are constantly being cued. So you try to eliminate the cues. Or change your environment. Many of us don't have the opportunity to leave our environment. And the food industry isn't prone to change their behavior any time soon. But we now have pharmaceutical aids to help tamp that down. The effect of these GLP-1 [weight loss] drugs on food noise, that's the big discovery. GLP-1 drugs can lead to serious medical conditions that concern you. What are they, and what should doctors and drug companies be doing differently? The fact is that the only way you're going to lose weight — whether it's drugs or diet or surgery — is to have an energy deficit. [GLP-1s] are very effective at getting you to consume less. But some people are eating less than 1,000 calories a day. There are people eating 600, 800 calories. You have to be under medical care or you run the risk of malnutrition. Food stays in your gut longer and that delay in gastric entering [called gastroparesis] can cause its own set of symptoms as well as metabolic consequences such as hypoglycemia, low blood sugar and other metabolic states. They all result from malnutrition. Many doctors who are prescribing this are not well-trained in obesity medicine or in nutrition. And it's very important, if possible, that a team of healthcare professionals, including a dietitian, be available. There's no doubt that [drug companies] need to do a better job of studying the real world data. How to use these drugs, how to safely get off these drugs, is a key issue. There needs to be better labeling surrounding gastroparesis and the risks associated with these drugs. Most people aren't going to be on GLP-1s for life because they're expensive and have adverse effects, you say. Yet going off the drugs, most people gain back the weight. So what's the solution, long-term? The question is about intermittent use — can I use these drugs to get my weight off? Then can I use them, intermittently, over a lifetime? But we don't have data yet to know [if] that's safe. But you can use these drugs to condition yourself to learn how to eat differently. I eat very differently now — I don't want to put large amounts of food in my stomach. I've conditioned myself not to do that. How long that will last, we'll see. So you need a range of tools. That can range from nutrition therapy to behavioral therapy to physical activity — and they're going to vary for the individual. There's no one tool that's gonna work for the duration. The pharmacological tools are only one tool, it's the entire tool box that has to be available. But the most important thing is to recognize that this is a chronic condition that needs continuous care, even after you've lost the weight. Achieving a healthy body weight starts with understanding addiction, you say, not necessarily the old advice to 'eat less and move more.' Why is this so important? The ultimate answer is 'eat less and move more.' But we can't do that because of the physiological and addictive circuits — they stand in the way. We have to understand that addiction is not just about the weak and the downtrodden. It's part of all of us, those circuits. We can't overestimate the amount of stigma and shame and distress that many feel because they've been unable to control their weight. They feel it's their fault, they don't like themselves for it and society has created all these biases attached to it. The simple recognition [that] our brains are not fully under our control when it comes to these energy dense foods is a very important step. There's a delicate balance between the body positivity movement, which encourages people to accept their bodies as they are, and the health crisis that is obesity, which you say is a root cause of many diseases. How do you suggest we navigate that? That movement did a lot of good — it took the shame out of it, it took the stigma out. But it was at a time when we didn't have effective tools to reduce visceral fat. You can love your body, but also do things for your health. Those things are not diametrically opposite. And I'm not comfortable with the amount of morbidity and mortality associated with visceral fat and saying we shouldn't do something about that. As former commissioner of the FDA, what keeps you up at night these days? The recognition that visceral fat is causal in an array of cardiometabolic diseases that increase real disability in one's senior years. I think we're not prepared to handle that. We've only woken up to the fact of how toxic this visceral fat is. [Also], Trump's greatest achievement, in the first term, was Operation Warp Speed. And I was part of it beginning January 2021. The reason we were able to do what we did, and get those vaccines safely developed and produced and distributed, was because there existed institutions within our federal government: the [National Institutes of Health], the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration], the [Center for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority], the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. Those institutions had enormous expertise and resources. And yes, we had to put it together; yes, we had to do things differently. But we were able to build on that infrastructure. Now they're destroying that infrastructure. I don't get it. To end on a positive note: What amount of weight loss actually decreases future risk of disease? What's remarkable is that relatively small amounts can have significant effects. If you want to reverse certain conditions, that would require more weight loss. But almost any weight loss is going to add clinical benefits and be useful in reducing cardiometabolic risk.
