Careless People

In October 2014, Debbie and Wynn-Williams are trying to teach Zuckerberg the proper way to greet the South Korean president, but he doesn’t take it seriously, spending the practice session doing “fake gangsta handshakes” instead. His past meetings with foreign leaders have only increased his belief that for him personally, it’s a waste of time to meet politicians. Meanwhile, Sandberg is resentful whenever Zuckerberg gets into “her” territory of meeting with officials. It’s a difficult time for Facebook, as the prevalence of smartphones means the company increasingly relies on Google and Apple, which make the majority of smartphones.

Korea is the one country in the world doing a criminal investigation on Facebook, with arrest warrants out for Zuckerberg and Sandberg. While the Korean police are a serious threat to tech companies, Facebook has managed to stonewall them so far. Wynn-William thinks Zuckerberg and the rest have been surprisingly lax about this situation and about trying to comply with Korean laws. Wynn-Williams is part of a meeting where the leadership suggests that they need “a body to arrest”—someone to send to Korea other than Zuckerberg to see if the Korean police are serious about making arrests.  Wynn-Williams realizes she’s the least senior person in the room, and Elliot informs her that she will have to be “the body.”