The first set of policy changes came on Tuesday, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be removing content moderators and fact-checkers and loosening restrictions on their hate speech policies.
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Meta’s new guidelines state, “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird’.”
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The guidelines also provide a list of frequently asked questions for these policies. One asks, “Do insults about mental illness and abnormality violate when targeting people on the basis of gender or sexual orientation?” Meta now sides against queer rights pointing to statements like “Trans people aren’t real. They’re mentally ill,” “Gays are not normal,” “Trans people are freaks,” and “Women are crazy,” as being allowed, as per Platformer.
Other authorized statements include, “There’s no such thing as trans children,” “God created two genders, ‘transgender’ people are not a real thing,” and “A trans woman isn’t a woman, it’s a pathetic confused man.”
Meta announces end to its DEI programs
Then, on Friday, Meta announced that it would end DEI practices in hiring, training and picking suppliers, Axios reported.
“The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” wrote Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources, in an internal memo to employees. “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.”
She announced that Meta would be ending its DEI team, its programs, end efforts to source business suppliers from diverse-owned businesses, and end its practices ensures that a diverse pool of candidates is considered for every open position and for representation in the company’s public imaging.
Gale said Meta would focus on supporting small- and medium-sized businesses and focus on “fair and consistent practices that mitigate bias for all, no matter your background.”
“We believe there are other ways to build an industry-leading workforce and leverage teams made up of world-class people from all types of backgrounds,” Gale wrote.
Meta employees push back against new content, DEI changes
One Meta criticized the new content policies on the company’s internal messaging platform, writing, “I am LGBT and mentally ill. Just to let you know that I’ll be taking time out to look after my mental health,” according to 404 Media. This internal dissent was later deleted.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the co-chair of Meta’s Oversight Board, said to BBC, “We’re very concerned about gender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, trans people’s rights on the platforms because we are seeing many instances where hate speech can lead to real-life harm, so we will be watching that space very carefully,” adding that she is “very concerned” by this decision.
“The changes to our Hateful Conduct policy seek to undo the mission creep that has made our rules too restrictive and too prone to over enforcement,” a member of the policy team said to employees in a thread. “Reaffirming our core value of free expression means that we might see content on our platforms that people find offensive … yesterday’s changes not only open up conversation about these subjects, but allow for counterspeech on what matters to users.”
A separate employee told 404 Media, “No one is excited or happy about these changes. And obviously the employees who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community are especially unhappy and feel the most unsupported in this. A small number of people are taking time off and are sharing that they are considering leaving the company due to this change.”
Another one told the same outlet, “I find it very hard to understand how explicitly carving out which groups of marginalized people can have what we otherwise classify hate speech directed at them will be beneficial for the communities we hope to build on our platforms.”
An additional commenter said, “When I first joined this company, people would criticize me for working here all the time. I defended y’all time and time again, always anchoring that in the end we do try our best even if it doesn’t work out sometimes – but this? appalling.”
Responding to the DEI changes, one employee, according to Business Insider, wrote on the internal messaging platform, “This is unfortunate disheartening upsetting to read.” Another wrote, “Wow, we really capitulated on a lot of our supposed values this week.” A third commented, “What happened to the company I joined all those years ago.”
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