Meta, the social media company that owns Facebook and Instagram, has moved to eliminate sweeping diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, continuing a recent pattern of business decisions by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in what critics say is a cowing to President-elect Donald Trump and his MAGA conservative takeover of American politics.
According to a report by Axios, Meta has scrapped its DEI programs in various operations, including hiring, training, and picking suppliers. The news outlet cites a new employee memo that outlines the company changes.
Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources at Meta, said the business decisions are a result of the “legal and policy landscape” of DEI efforts in the U.S. “changing.”
In the memo, Gale cites the U.S. Supreme Court 2023 ruling overturning affirmative action in college admissions as a justification for Meta’s shift on DEI. She wrote, “The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. … The term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.”
The Meta executive said its employment goals “can create the impression that decisions are being made based on race or gender,” adding, “While this has never been our practice, we want to eliminate any impression of it.” Gale also clarified that Meta “previously ended representation goals for women and ethnic minorities.”
The latest moves on DEI at Meta come just days after Zuckerberg announced that Meta was getting rid of fact-checkers, whom he called “too politically biased,” and instead replacing them with “community notes.” The company also announced this week that it was rolling back rules on what is considered hate speech.
For years, Republicans have complained about political censorship by tech companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter, which is now owned by Elon Musk, who renamed the social media platform X and rolled back similar policies.Trump’s comeback win in the 2024 presidential election and Republicans taking back control of Congress have been largely seen by conservatives and some business executives as a mainstream rejection of certain progressive policies and an endorsement of conservative viewpoints on issues like DEI.
Meta’s latest company decisions are significant as President-elect Trump and his MAGA movement have seemingly politically transformed the social media landscape as Elon Musk, a close ally and advisor to Trump, owns X. Despite previous clashings with Mark Zuckerberg, Trump’s relationship with the Facebook CEO has seemingly softened as Zuckerberg paid a visit to Trump at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago just weeks after winning last November’s election. Zuckerberg also named Trump ally and UFC CEO and president Dana White to its board of directors.
Faceboook whistleblower Frances Haugen told The Guardian that Zuckerberg’s decision to eliminate fact-checkers was him “basically saying: ‘Hey, I heard the message.‘” Zuckerberg said himself, “It feels like we’re in a new era now,” when announcing the post-election policy changes.
When asked about Meta’s recent rollback of DEI policies, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told theGrio that she wouldn’t comment on a “specific action that a private company takes.” However, when asked if the Biden-Harris administration was disappointed by the decision, considering it went out its way to convince enterprises not to interpret the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling as related to businesses, Jean-Pierre emphasized that President Joe Biden believes “diversity is our greatest strength.
“You’ve seen this not just by words, by the action that this president has taken, and certainly that is a sentiment you’ve heard echoed by leaders across businesses and government, not just us,” said the Biden spokesperson. “That continues to be our stance on this. It is important to have different voices around the table. It’s important to have different voices, you know, working on policy to make sure that we are delivering for the American people, and that’s what we have done.”
As President Biden prepares to leave office in just 10 days, Jean-Pierre touted the Biden-Harris White House’s commitment to “making sure communities that are normally left behind have a voice or … don’t feel like they don’t have access, and changing that around.”
She added, “We have done that in many ways, whether it’s the economy, whether it’s lowering costs on drug, prescription drugs, making sure manufacturing … come back, helping wages to fill up. We have done this and shown our commitment to that.”
Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy group, also reacted to Meta’s latest move on DEI. In a statement provided to theGrio, interim Executive Director Portia Allen-Kyle said the decision is a “clear play for President-elect Trump’s favor days before he is sworn in for a second term.”
She continued, “This choice was a display of Zuckerberg’s commitment to money and political power and Meta’s lack of care for Black employees, suppliers, and the millions of Black customers who will face racism and hatred on their platforms, sometimes with deadly real-life consequences.”
Allen-Kyle said Meta and other “Big Tech” companies are showing a “disregard for Black people’s digital safety and economic inclusion, while continuing to market their products to our communities and profit off of our monetary support.
The leader said that given how much tech companies have “capitulated” to the incoming Trump administration’s “neosegregationist agenda,” it is clear that “the only viable solution to curtail corporate power and protect the safety and civil rights of Black people nationwide.”
She concluded: “Without laws and policies in place to hold corporations accountable, Big Tech will continue to prioritize their profits at the expense of our rights and safety.”
