Amazon, Meta End Diversity Initiatives

Facebook parent Meta and e-commerce giant Amazon are reportedly ending diversity initiatives ahead of the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, amidst conservative criticism of such initiatives.

The moves follow a push for diversity and inclusion following the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020.

Major US employers including Walmart and McDonald’s have made similar moves since Trump’s election in November.

Amazon in a December memo reported by Reuters on Friday said it was “winding down outdated programs and materials” related to representation and inclusion and was aiming to complete the process by the end of 2024.

‘Fair and consistent’

Meta will no longer have a team focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and Maxine Williams, the company’s chief diversity officer, will take on a new role focused on accessibility and engagement, wrote Meta human resources vice president Janelle Gale in an internal memo to staff, according to an Axios report.

Instead of equity and inclusion programmes Meta will create ones focusing on “how to apply fair and consistent practices that mitigate bias for all”, said Gale.

She said Meta would end diversity programmes for supplier sourcing and hiring and would end representation goals.

Such goals “can create the impression that decisions are being made based on race or gender”, Gale wrote.

“While this has never been our practice, we want to eliminate any impression of it,” she wrote, adding that the company had previously ended representation goals for women and ethnic minorities.

Policy shift

Gale cited recent US Supreme Court decisions as “signaling a shift” in how courts will approach DEI cases going forward.

An employee comment on Gale’s memo, which was released on an internal system, called it “upsetting to read”, Reuters reported.

Meta has in recent days appointed a personal friend of Trump to its board, ended its US fact-checking programme and named a prominent Republican as its head of global affairs, as it aligns its policies with those of Trump and his supporters.