Meta is overhauling its DEI initiatives, ending diversity-focused hiring and supplier programs, citing shifting legal and policy landscapes.
Facebook parent company Meta is reversing its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and practices with immediate effect, a spokesperson confirmed to The Epoch Times, with the change following a wave of similar corporate rollbacks across the United States.
Meta is dropping DEI practices used in hiring, development, and procurement services, according to an internal memo by Janelle Gale, the company’s vice president of human resources, which was posted on Meta’s internal Workplace platform and
obtained by Axios. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the accuracy of Axios’ reporting on the memo and declined to share the document directly in response to a request from The Epoch Times.
Changes include revising hiring practices to eliminate diversity-focused targets, scaling back development programs designed to promote underrepresented groups, and adjusting procurement policies that previously prioritized vendors based on racial or gender criteria, according to the memo.
“We continue to be focused on serving everyone, and building a multi-talented, industry-leading workforce from all walks of life,” wrote Gale in the memo.
Meta will also dissolve its DEI team, while highlighting its commitment to evaluate people as individuals and not based on characteristics like race and gender.
The memo noted that the term DEI has become “charged,” with many understanding it as promoting preferential treatment for certain groups to the detriment of others. It also highlighted a recent Supreme Court decision that found affirmative action in college admissions was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court’s 6–3
decision, issued in June 2023, noted that, for too long, universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin.”
After the high court found that racial preferences in college admissions violate the Constitution, attorneys general from over a dozen states
warned 100 of the largest U.S. corporations about “illegality of racial quotas and race-based preferences” in hiring and contracting. The officials urged the companies to immediately end such practices. According to a Harvard Business Review 2022
survey, 60 percent of U.S. companies had a race- or gender-based diversity, equity, and inclusion program.
Supporters of cuts to DEI policies say that DEI imposes ideological conformity and amounts to discrimination. Opponents see these rollbacks as a threat to principles like equity and inclusivity.
Meta’s policy change reflects broader corporate responses to increasing scrutiny of DEI initiatives. Companies including
Caterpillar,
McDonald’s,
Southwest Airlines,
Toyota,
Walmart and others have all revised their DEI-related policies in recent months. Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, announced in November that it would discontinue financing events aimed at LGBT youth and end its participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality
Index.
The Human Rights Campaign has criticized the recent wave of corporate retreats from DEI,
saying that these actions could have negative consequences for companies, both in terms of business success and their ability to attract diverse workforces.
The DEI-related changes at Meta come on the heels of other shifts at the social media giant. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
announced on Jan. 7 that it’s ending its fact-checking program, which was first introduced in 2016, when Donald Trump won the presidential election for the first time.
“It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram,” Zuckerberg
said in a video. The fact-checkers “have become too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they created, especially in the U.S.,” he said.
In place of the fact-checking program, Meta will be rolling out a community notes system, similar to the one used by the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, Zuckerberg said.
Meta also recently
expanded its board of directors to 13 members with the addition of UFC CEO Dana White, Ferrari Executive Chairman John Elkann, and tech investor Charlie Songhurst. The tech giant said the move intends to diversify its leadership with figures from a broad range of industries who can bring fresh perspectives to the company’s operations.
