Meta terminates its DEI programs days before Trump inauguration
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Meta, fresh off announcement to end factchecking, follows McDonald’s and Walmart in rolling back diversity initiatives. Following a week in which Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was getting rid of factchecking, as of Friday the company is also terminating its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program effective immediately, according to a memo obtained by Axios and Business Insider.
The company memo acknowledged that “the legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing”, while pointing to recent supreme court decisions and the “charged” view some have of DEI as a concept.
In the memo, Janelle Gale, vice-president of human resources, wrote that the company would be ending several programs that targeted minority groups, including the Diverse Slate Approach, which she said “is currently being challenged” and representation goals, both of which have been used to promote diverse hiring practices.
Silicon Valley’s lack of race and gender diversity has long been acknowledged. According to the company’s most recent diversity report, under previous efforts, Meta doubled the number of Black and Hispanic employees in the US two years ahead of its goal, increasing from 3.8% and 5.2% to 4.9% and 6.7%, respectively. Per the new announcement, Meta will no longer enact specific diverse hiring practices.
