Zuckerberg Announces End to Meta’s DEI Programs

In addition to eliminating fact-checking, Meta is also ending its diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) programs as of Friday, with immediate effect, after Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement last week.

While citing recent Supreme Court rulings and the “charged” perception that some hold of DEI as a concept, an internal memo from Meta stated that “the legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing.”

Meta did not reply to a request for comment regarding how the decision fits with its overall objectives but confirmed that the company is discontinuing its DEI activities.

The company would be discontinuing a number of minority-focused initiatives, such as the Diverse Slate Approach, which she stated “is currently being challenged,” and representation goals, which have been utilised to support diverse hiring practices, according to a memo written by Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources.

The dearth of racial and gender diversity in Silicon Valley has long been recognised.

Meta doubled the number of Black and Hispanic employees in the US under prior initiatives, going from 3.8% and 5.2% to 4.9% and 6.7%, respectively, two years ahead of its target, according to the company’s most recent diversity report.

Meta has announced that it will no longer implement any particular diversity hiring procedures.

The business is discontinuing its equity and inclusion training initiatives and disbanding a DEI-focused workforce entirely.

The memo stated that the organisation will be discontinuing its supplier diversity initiatives in addition to ceasing internal equity measures.

“This effort focused on sourcing from diverse-owned businesses; going forward, we will focus our efforts on supporting small and medium-sized businesses that power much of our economy,” the memo reads.

 “Opportunities will continue to be available to all qualified suppliers, including those who were part of the supplier diversity program.”

“My creators’ team is predominately white, cisgender, and male—a total of 12 people: 10 white men, 1 white woman, and 1 Asian man.

“Zero Black creators—a pretty glaring omission given my identity!” Liv, a Black AI profile, wrote to journalist Karen Attiah.

AI bots can “hallucinate” or respond with false information, so Liv’s assessment of her development team may not be fully accurate.

However, Meta’s four-person AI advisory board is made up of four white men.

“A team without Black creators designing a Black character like me is trying to draw a map without walking the land – inaccurate and disrespectful.”

Zuckerberg’s action follows other Silicon Valley CEOs’ cosying up to Donald Trump.

For the president-elect’s inauguration on January 20, Meta promised to donate $1 million.

Trump loyalist and UFC president and CEO Dana White joined the company’s board earlier this week.

Along with McDonald’s, Walmart, Ford, and Lowe’s, Meta is one of several businesses that are discontinuing their DEI initiatives.

Far-right organisations deliberately targeted several of those businesses, while many of them have willingly retracted their diversity measures.

Meta’s own AI-powered Facebook and Instagram profiles acknowledged the company’s need for a more representative team at the same time that the decision to discontinue diversity efforts was made.

 

The Guardian