Meta employees are heatedly divided over the social media giant’s decision to roll back its DEI programs, according to an online survey by professional social media platform Blind.
The Jan. 16-19 survey of 965 Meta employees in the U.S. found that 43% agreed with the decision to halt DEI initiatives, 45% said they disagreed, and 12% were unsure.
“We didn’t end DEI. We shifted DEI to focus on hiring MAGAs,” one respondent wrote, claiming that Meta terminated its policies due to pressure from the Trump administration, Blind reported.
By contrast, a supporter of the decision remarked that, “We need to check the real flavor of the talent. Some hired through DEI haven’t delivered strong results,” according to Blind.
It said another employee quickly fired back: “We’ve seen countless people who weren’t hired through DEI and still fail to deliver strong results. But we don’t blame it on their race.”
Meta did not respond to a request for comment prior to press time.
In a Jan. 10 memo to employees, Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources and head of people, announced changes to the Facebook owner’s hiring, development and procurement practices, according to a CNBC report. This included ending Meta’s “Diverse Slate Approach,” its practice of considering qualified candidates from underrepresented groups for open jobs, the news outlet explained.
Meta will also disband its DEI team, eliminate its equity and inclusion training programs and end its supplier diversity efforts, the memo said.
The term DEI has “become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others,” Gale wrote.
While Meta previously ended its representational goals for women and ethnic minorities, “we want to eliminate any impression” that Meta decisions are based on race and gender, the memo added.
On the day the announcement was made, Blind posted an initial poll asking employees whether they thought the decision was the right one. In that survey, which had more than 4,700 participants, around 60% responded in favor of the decision, Blind said.
A week later, in this survey, respondents were clearly split on whether DEI had a positive or negative impact: 44% agreed DEI increased diversity, fostered innovation and/or improved brand image, while 38% believed DEI led to reverse discrimination against majority workers and/or hindered a performance-driven work environment. Seventeen percent said they were unsure.
The memo came three days after Meta ended its third-party fact-checking. According to the Blind survey, employees were similarly polarized on this decision: 42% opposed it, while 36% supported it.
The tech giant’s actions follow a parade of high-powered corporations — Walmart, Ford, Lowes, Harley-Davidson and John Deere, among them — that shifted their DEI efforts last year.
On Friday, Target joined the group, announcing it would be ending its DEI programs.
Target’s announcement came in the wake of a flurry of executive orders President Donald Trump signed during his first week in office, including orders aimed at suppressing public- and private-sector DEI initiatives.
