Mark Zuckerberg once asked China President Xi Jinping to name his unborn child. What happened next

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, later named their first daughter Maxima.

A new book by former Facebook executive and whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams has shed light on Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s relentless efforts to break into the Chinese market, including a request he once made to Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to the revelations, Zuckerberg asked Xi to name his unborn child—a request that was swiftly declined.

In her memoir, Careless People, Wynn-Williams, who spent seven years as Facebook’s director of global public policy, provided a critical account of the company's internal culture, controversial decisions, and its attempts to gain a foothold in China. She described China as Zuckerberg’s “white whale” – an elusive goal he persistently pursued despite repeated setbacks.

Zuckerberg’s determination to enter the Chinese market was evident in multiple ways. He famously learned Mandarin, engaged with top Chinese officials, and even positioned himself as a proponent of Chinese internet regulations. According to Wynn-Williams, Facebook assured Chinese authorities that it would support "social order" and reportedly shared in-depth details of its facial-recognition technology with Chinese engineers.

She further alleged that the company proposed aiding the Chinese Communist Party in censoring viral content by allowing the government to provide a blacklist of prohibited material.

“What was even more concerning was that they went ahead and installed those virality counters in Hong Kong and in Taiwan,” Wynn-Williams claimed, highlighting Facebook’s controversial attempts to appease Chinese authorities.

The most striking revelation, however, was Zuckerberg’s 2015 request to Xi Jinping. According to Wynn-Williams, during an interaction, the billionaire entrepreneur asked Xi if he would “do him the honour of naming his unborn child.” The Chinese president declined.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, later named their first daughter Maxima, who was born in December 2015.