Meta ends corporate DEI programs
Tech giant Meta on Friday ended its major diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs effective immediately, joining a growing group of companies backing off DEI initiatives.
Axios reported citing a memo to Meta employees explaining that the company is immediately halting its DEI programs for hiring, training and picking suppliers.
The company told employees that the "legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is changing" in a memo from Meta's vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, according to the Axios report.
Meta confirmed the Axios report in response to an inquiry from FOX Business.
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Gale's memo noted the Supreme Court's recent decisions that have the effect of "signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI," which contributed to the change.
"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," Gale wrote in the memo reported by Axios.
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Meta's new chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, told Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman, "This is ultimately about doing what’s best for our company and ensuring that we are serving everyone and building teams with the most talented people."
"This means evaluating people as individuals, and sourcing people from a range of candidate pools, but never making hiring decisions based on protected characteristics like race or gender," Kaplan said.
"The Supreme Court of the United States recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI," Kaplan explained. "It reaffirms longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics."
"It’s clear that there’s a shift on this issue from a policy and legal perspective, and we anticipate that will happen even more moving forward, and we want to ensure our programs are in a long-term and sustainable position," he added.
Meta's announcement comes after it announced earlier this week that it would end its fact-checking program.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is planning to replace them with community notes similar to those on X.
Several other prominent companies have rolled back DEI policies in recent months.
McDonald's on Monday announced that it was ending some of its DEI policies, saying that while it is committed to inclusion, it dropped its "aspirational representational goals," as well as ending its DEI pledge for suppliers. The company also changed the name of its diversity team to the Global Inclusion team and ended external surveys on the subject.
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The fast-food giant's decision followed similar changes made in 2024 by Walmart, Ford Motor Co., John Deere, Lowe's and Toyota.
Additionally, in mid-December, a federal appellate court rejected Nasdaq's diversity rules that had previously been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman and FOX Business' Breck Dumas contributed to this report.