Another ‘Disgruntled Employee,’ They Said

Event ID: PP1148996

Tue, Mar 17, 2026 | 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Venue: Salon AB (JW Marriott)

View on Official SXSW

Summary

When WhatsApp’s former Head of Security raised alarms about flaws that put billions at risk, Meta fired him. He’s not the only insider punished for protecting the public. This session explores the cost of speaking up inside Big Tech—and how we can build real safeguards, legal protections, and public support so that truth-telling in the age of AI isn’t a career-ending act of courage.

Contributors

Raw Event JSON

Large nested arrays are compacted for page readability. Full payload remains in dataset files.

Open JSON payload
{
  "id": "PP1148996",
  "track": "Tech & AI",
  "focus_area": null,
  "category": "Fireside Chat",
  "event_id": "PP1148996",
  "event_type": "panel",
  "format": "Fireside Chat",
  "genre": null,
  "subgenre": null,
  "name": "Another ‘Disgruntled Employee,’ They Said",
  "presented_by": null,
  "publish_at": "2025-11-03T16:30:00.000-06:00",
  "reservable": true,
  "reservable_id": "PP1148996",
  "reserved": false,
  "date": "2026-03-17",
  "end_time": "2026-03-17T17:00:00.000-05:00",
  "start_time": "2026-03-17T16:00:00.000-05:00",
  "message": null,
  "image": null,
  "credentials": [
    {
      "name": "Platinum Badge",
      "type": "platinum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Innovation Badge",
      "type": "innovation"
    }
  ],
  "contributors": [
    {
      "id": 78735,
      "company": null,
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2239702,
      "name": "Attaullah Baig",
      "speaker_types": [],
      "title": "Former Head Of Security, Whatsapp",
      "image": null,
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": null,
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 78734,
      "company": "Psst.org",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2239701,
      "name": "Jenifer Gibson",
      "speaker_types": [],
      "title": "Co-Founder",
      "image": null,
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": null,
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "accessible": false,
    "age_policy": null,
    "floor": "3",
    "id": "V1349",
    "indoor_outdoor": null,
    "name": "Salon AB",
    "parent_id": "V0403",
    "parent_venue_name": "JW Marriott",
    "venue_entry_info": null,
    "formats": null,
    "location": {
      "address": "110 E 2nd St.",
      "lat_lon": [
        30.2645713,
        -97.743198
      ],
      "city": "Austin",
      "postal_code": "78701",
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "JW Marriott"
    },
    "root": {
      "accessible": null,
      "age_policy": null,
      "floor": null,
      "id": "V0403",
      "indoor_outdoor": null,
      "name": "JW Marriott",
      "parent_id": null,
      "parent_venue_name": null,
      "venue_entry_info": null,
      "formats": null
    },
    "events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
  },
  "description": "When WhatsApp’s former Head of Security raised alarms about flaws that put billions at risk, Meta fired him. He’s not the only insider punished for protecting the public. This session explores the cost of speaking up inside Big Tech—and how we can build real safeguards, legal protections, and public support so that truth-telling in the age of AI isn’t a career-ending act of courage.",
  "experience_level": "Beginner",
  "accessibility": [],
  "accessible_venue": false,
  "add_bcl_url": false,
  "add_slido": false,
  "age_policy": null,
  "american_sign_language": false,
  "apple_url": null,
  "audio_description": false,
  "caption_url": null,
  "closed_captioned": false,
  "cpe_credit": false,
  "has_subtitles": false,
  "hash_tags": [],
  "high_sensory_experience": false,
  "live": false,
  "long_description": "When WhatsApp’s former Head of Security raised alarms about flaws that put billions at risk, Meta fired him. He’s not the only insider punished for protecting the public. This session explores the cost of speaking up inside Big Tech—and how we can build real safeguards, legal protections, and public support so that truth-telling in the age of AI isn’t a career-ending act of courage.",
  "meeting_url": null,
  "meeting_url_live": false,
  "mentorly_url": null,
  "mobile_audio_url": null,
  "open_captioned": false,
  "playlist_tag": null,
  "rebroadcast": false,
  "recommended_ids": [],
  "search_conversions": null,
  "short_program": false,
  "slido_url": null,
  "sort": "ANOTHER ?DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE,? THEY SAID",
  "source": "Official",
  "squad_up_url": null,
  "stream_embed": null,
  "stream_id": null,
  "stream_url": null,
  "strobe_warning": false,
  "subdiscipline": null,
  "summit": null,
  "summit_display_name": null,
  "tags": [
    {
      "id": 1636,
      "name": "Social Impact",
      "created_at": "2017-10-16T21:03:39.709-05:00",
      "updated_at": "2025-01-21T12:09:19.138-06:00",
      "sort": "SOCIAL IMPACT",
      "alpha": "S"
    },
    {
      "id": 2387,
      "name": "Privacy / Security",
      "created_at": "2023-02-10T13:04:29.497-06:00",
      "updated_at": "2023-02-10T13:04:29.497-06:00",
      "sort": "PRIVACY / SECURITY",
      "alpha": "P"
    },
    {
      "id": 943,
      "name": "Policy",
      "created_at": "2016-11-03T15:56:26.812-05:00",
      "updated_at": "2024-02-05T17:28:34.060-06:00",
      "sort": "POLICY",
      "alpha": "P"
    }
  ],
  "talent_attending": null,
  "title_only": false,
  "track_display_name": "Tech & AI track sponsored by IBM",
  "trailer_id": null,
  "trailer_url": null,
  "video_on_demand": null,
  "vimeo_id": null,
  "vod": false,
  "xr_project_type": null,
  "youtube_id": null,
  "related_sales_client": null
}