This past week, Mark Zuckerberg began a rapid reversal of policies – from DEI programs on Facebook to political recommendations on Threads and Instagram – and ended the week with a nearly three-hour interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. It reads as other users call it an apparent attempt to cast bootlicking as preparation for a new political reality in the US He doesn’t seem too afraid of that assumption, either: Just last month, Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump’s first fund and in Rogan’s podcast, which aired Friday, he said he’s “optimistic” about president-elect Donald Trump Trump because he “just wants America to win.”
It was such a busy week for Meta that even die-hard Zuckerberg news consumers may have missed some of his revolutionary decisions. Here’s a recap of all the changes the $200 billion-plus man has made to one of the world’s most powerful and influential tech companies just one week before Trump takes office.
The fact checkers are out
Zuckerberg is following in the footsteps of MAGA fan Elon Musk in ditching fact-checkers in favor of public notes. He declared on Tuesday that “it is time to return to our roots in terms of freedom of expression” by “simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing errors.” The decision was met with a surprising – albeit expected – backlash from civil society and human rights groups. As Chief Media Advisor and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights Nora Benavidez in a press release, “Content moderation has never been a tool to suppress free speech; it is a principle that the platforms themselves are developed to promote dialogue and protect the truth for users. .”
Meta abandons fact-checking of public notes ahead of Trump’s second term
He defended his decision on Rogan’s podcast saying he hired fact-checkers that were “very biased” and said his company’s fact-checking process was “absurd. 1984.” A striking comparison to a book written by a democratic socialist and member of the Anti-Stalinist Left. Makes you think – has Zuckerberg read this book?
Hate speech has entered
Meta has decided to remove restrictions against hate speech on its platforms. Within these new guidelines, Meta platforms will allow users to post content that calls women a commodity, refers to certain types as “filth,” and calls homosexuals “mentally ill,” despite the APA declaring 52 years ago that homosexuality. it’s not a mental illness, for example. Users can match protected characteristics including “race, nationality, national origin, disability, religion, class, sexual orientation, gender, sexuality, and serious illness” to inanimate objects, property, and diseases. The platform will also not take action against sexist and sexist posts.
Fury over Meta’s relaxed hate speech policies: “I think this is a prelude to genocide”
“We condone allegations of mental illness or abnormality based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and the often serious use of words like ‘abnormal,'” wrote Meta. A spokesperson told CNN in a statement that Meta will still prohibit insults and attacks and will enforce its remaining policies on bullying, harassment and violence.
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DEI plans are out
For some reason, Zuckerberg decided to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, according to an internal memo obtained by Axios on Friday. Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources, wrote the memo and said that Meta will still bring together “psychologically diverse groups, with differences in knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, opinions, and experience” but will no longer offer equality and inclusion. training. As the New York Times reported, the company “was eliminating its chief executive officer role, ended its diversity hiring policies that required a certain number of women and minorities to be hired, and said it would no longer prioritize minority-owned businesses when hiring salespeople.”
Plans for DEI at Meta are underway, the company said
“The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing. The United States Supreme Court recently made decisions that signal a shift in how courts will approach DEI,” reads the memo, according to Axios. “It reaffirms the old principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or encouraged on the basis of environmental factors. The term ‘DEI’ has come under fire again, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that implies preferential treatment of some groups over others. .”
The tampons are out
According to the New York Times, facility managers have been ordered to remove tampons from men’s bathrooms at Meta offices in California, Texas and New York. Meta previously offered this to non-binary and transgender employees who use the men’s room. As Katie Notopoulos, Business Insider’s tech reporter, wrote on Bluesky, it’s a clear effort to signal power.
“They may have been used by a few workers, but work for the institutional team to remove them,” he wrote. “Like, it takes physical work and communication across all three offices to do this.”
Trans and nonbinary Messenger themes are out
Speaking of positive signings, Meta also removed dynamic and non-binary themes from its Messenger app this week, 404 Media first reported. These themes are a fun way to decorate your chats — “love” makes them pink, for example. Variable and non-binary themes change dialog colors to match fixed or non-binary flags. It is difficult to piece together a possible reason why these were disabled beyond an attempt to match its other new anti-LGBTQ policies.
Political discourse on Instagram and Threads has entered
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram and Threads, announced on Thursday that the platforms will be recommending political content to users again. You can adjust your policy settings to low, normal, and more, but the default will be normal. While some users are happy to bring politics back to the platform, they are worried about the timing of the removal of fact-checkers. It is a startling change from its March 2024 approach of distancing itself from political content.
Instagram and Threads will now recommend political content
“Our goal is to present political recommendations in a responsible and personalized way, which means that the people who want this content are much smaller than those who don’t,” Mosseri told Threads about the decision. “Our plan is to continue to listen to feedback, learn, and iterate over the next few months.”
Dana White is in
On Monday, Meta announced that Dana White, a prominent Trump ally and president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, will join the board of directors — another move noted by the Washington Post. “it can be seen as Zuckerberg’s latest way of improving relations with Trump.” White was added along with John Elkann, the billionaire CEO of the investment company Exor and the Executive Chairman of Ferrari and Stellantis, and Charlie Songhurst, a technology investor. The announcement comes a week after Nick Clegg, the former Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, announced that he would be leaving his post as Meta’s policy chief.