Meta is reportedly eliminating its DEI program. It comes just days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the tech giant would no longer restrict speech on the popular social media platform.
The company, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said it will no longer consider its controversial diversity, equity and inclusion policies before hiring, training and selecting suppliers. Axios reported on Friday.
The company is seeking direction from DEI due to the “changing legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States,” according to a memo sent by Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources. He said it is changing.
A Mehta spokesperson contacted by the Post confirmed the memo, which was first obtained by Axios.
Mr. Mehta's latest decision appears to further Mr. Zuckerberg's attempts to endear him to the incoming Trump administration.
The billionaire announced Tuesday that the tech giant is ending Meta's fact-checking and speech-policing efforts on the popular social media platform.
In a memo sent by Gale, he said DEI was “indicted because it is understood by some people as a practice that suggests it favors some groups over others.” he pointed out.
Meta will instead create a program “focused on how to apply fair and consistent practices that reduce bias for all people, regardless of their background,” Gale wrote.
The memo, posted on Workplace, an internal bulletin board, said employees in recent days have been discussing Zuckerberg's decision to discontinue partnerships with third-party fact checkers and Trump-supporting MMA entrepreneur Dana. It was used to protest the appointment of Mr. White to the board of directors. of directors.
This new policy means Meta is dismantling its team dedicated to DEI. Axios said Maxine Williams, the company's chief diversity officer, will be reassigned to a new role within the company.
Meta no longer aims to achieve “representational goals,” Gale wrote, because meta “can give the impression that decisions are being made based on race or gender.”
“This was not our practice, but we want to dispel that impression,” she said.
While DEI was originally intended to diversify the workforce, it has been criticized as a way to practice reverse discrimination, penalizing white applicants and downplaying their benefits.
Fortune 500 companies rushed to adopt DEI in response to the Black Lives Matter-led protests that began in May 2020 in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
But since then, a public pressure campaign by right-wing influencers such as Robbie Starbuck has succeeded in forcing companies to cut or eliminate the programs.
Brands that have pulled back from DEI in recent months include Walmart, Ford Motor Co., Molson Coors, Jack Daniel's parent company Brown-Forman, Boeing, and Harley-Davidson.
Earlier this week, McDonald's announced it was ending some of its DEI practices, citing a Supreme Court ruling that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions.
