January 11, 2025
Meta, Amazon Roll Back DEI Programs Ahead Of Trump’s Inauguration
Meta and Amazon joined the ranks of McDonald's, Walmart, John Deere, Tractor Supply Co., and others in dropping or substantially altering its diversity, equity and inclusion programs
Meta and Amazon have recently followed in the footsteps of McDonald’s, Walmart, John Deere, Tractor Supply Co., and other major companies by scaling back or significantly altering their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. According to multiple media reports, Meta’s decision, alongside other recent actions, is being viewed as an effort to align itself with the anticipated Trump administration.
According to CNN, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, announced in an internal memo that it would end “equity and inclusion programs and changing hiring and supplier diversity practices,” and Meta’s vice president of human resources Janelle Gale confirmed this to CNN in her own statement.
“The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” Gale wrote. “The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. It reaffirms longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics.”
According to Gale, “DEI” has become “charged” due to the belief of some groups that it denotes “preferential treatment of some groups over others.”
In addition to this, per the memo, the company’s current chief diversity officer, Maxine Williams will have a new role which will focus on “accessibility and engagement,” this, according to Gale, is so the company doesn’t make hiring decisions based on “protected characteristics,” a philosophy pulled directly from the agitation of conservative activists like Robby Starbuck.
Meta, however, is not the only tech company pivoting away from prior commitments to DEI in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.
According to CNBC, Amazon has joined Meta in ending or changing its approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Per a Dec. 16 note from Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s VP of inclusive experiences and technology, the company was “winding down outdated programs and materials,” as part of a larger review of the company’s initiatives.
Castleberry continued, “Rather than have individual groups build programs, we are focusing on programs with proven outcomes — and we also aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture.”
Although Castleberry’s memo does not specify which of the company’s initiatives will be ended as a result of its year-end review, there have been changes to its “Our Positions” webpage, the page that is dedicated to Amazon’s official stances on a number of issues.
Per records of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, that webpage previously contained separate sections regarding “Equity for Black people,” “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” and “LGBTQ+ rights.”
Currently, those separate sections have been condensed into a single paragraph indicating that Amazon believes in creating a diverse and inclusive company and affirms that the inequitable treatment of anyone is unacceptable.
According to Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel, “We update this page from time to time to ensure that it reflects updates we’ve made to various programs and positions.”
Per a report from The Washington Post, which Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns, employees responded to the Amazon internal memo with their own concerns, per screenshots obtained by the outlet.
“I’m a bit worried … if that will impact insurance coverage in the future,” one employee wrote in the comments section of the internal memo.
Another employee described the change as “a bit of a backward step” from Amazon’s previous position. Amazon, however, told the Washington Post that the company’s insurance benefit is still available for its employees.
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