Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is already making some significant changes in the company’s culture shortly after announcing Facebook would no longer rely on fact-checkers to ensure users get accurate information on the platform.
The company is also scrapping its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in what appears to be aimed at appealing to right-leaning users, according to a New York Times report.
In a particularly interesting move, Zuckerberg has removed tampons from men’s bathrooms. The company had previously provided these items for employees who identify as transgender or nonbinary. This represents a significant shift in how the company dealt with social issues – especially amid widespread pressure on corporations to conform to progressive orthodoxy in their practices.
Other changes include the social media platform’s approach to speech and content moderation.
On Tuesday, most of Meta’s 72,000 employees learned of Mr. Zuckerberg’s plans along with the rest of the world. The Silicon Valley giant said it was overhauling speech on its apps by loosening restrictions on how people can talk about contentious social issues such as immigration, gender and sexuality. It killed its fact-checking program that had been aimed at curbing misinformation and said it would instead rely on users to police falsehoods. And it said it would insert more political content into people’s feeds after previously de-emphasizing that very material.
In a video announcement, Zuckerberg explained that he decided to overhaul the company’s fact-checking system because the original model was too biased. Instead, Facebook and Instagram will adopt a “Community Notes” system similar to X.
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Zuckerberg said "fact-checkers" were too politically biased, which is exactly what your post confirms. pic.twitter.com/2U7ZIkTKUp
— Brian Kennedy (@Brian_Kennedy) January 12, 2025
On Friday, Meta announced that it was ending its DEI programs and did away with the chief diversity officer role. Instead, the company says it will “focus on how to apply fair and consistent practices that mitigate bias for all, no matter your background,” said Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources.
Many employees have taken issue with the shift, criticizing the company for abandoning its commitment to inclusivity. President Joe Biden also chimed in, calling the move “shameful.”
At Meta, Mr. Zuckerberg began preparing to change speech policies. Knowing that any moves would be contentious, he assembled a team of no more than a dozen close advisers and lieutenants, including Joel Kaplan, a longtime policy executive with strong ties to the Republican Party; Kevin Martin, the head of U.S. policy; and David Ginsberg, the head of communications. Mr. Zuckerberg insisted on no leaks, the people with knowledge of the effort said.
The group worked on revising Meta’s “Hate Speech” policy, with Mr. Zuckerberg leading the charge, they said. They changed the name of the policy, which lays out what to do with slurs, threats against protected groups and other harmful content on its apps, to “Hateful Conduct.”
That effectively shifted the emphasis of the rules away from speech, minimizing Meta’s role in policing online conversation. Mr. Kaplan and Mr. Martin were cheerleaders of the changes, these people said.
However, there is still reason to doubt Zuckerberg’s change of heart. After all, the company was firmly in the leftist camp up to this point and eagerly supported Democratic candidates and progressive causes while shutting down right-leaning speech, as Townhall’s Ryan Bomberger pointed out:
A month later, my organization (The Radiance Foundation), was profoundly impacted by this “commitment” via Meta’s suppression efforts. In May 2018 Ireland held a vote whether or not to repeal its pro-life Amendment 8. Facebook deliberately decided to violate American citizens’ First Amendment rights and silence people’s voices over the issue of abortion. Relying on a completely bogus anti-free-speech effort called the Transparency Referendum Initiative (TRI), the platform suddenly started disallowing us to boost any posts dealing with abortion. For years we paid small amounts to boost our posts just to get our followers to see them since Facebook clearly throttled our reach. The (now defunct) TRI falsely claimed we purchased ads that directly addressed and interfered with Ireland’s abortion vote. We never purchased any such ad. Ever. That didn’t stop CNN, Politico, The New York Times, the Irish Times and many more from promoting the lie.
As I wrote back that same month: “This is particularly heartbreaking because the internet was the average person’s means of circumventing a monolithic Leftist mainstream media. It was a powerful and cost-effective way for small nonprofits like ours to get out a factual narrative that challenged the singular one regurgitated by an entire media establishment.”
If Zuckerberg is serious about this pivot, it would be a welcome sign. When Elon Musk bought X, many viewed it as a victory for free speech because the company’s previous censorship regime would not be there to stifle opinions coming from right-leaning users. If Facebook makes a similar shift, then it would not only be a devastating blow to leftist efforts to suppress opposing voices, it would create a more level playing field in the marketplace of ideas.
Perhaps Zuckerberg is simply reading the writing on the wall. With Trump securing a second term and people becoming more disenchanted with the left, allowing free speech is a smart business move. At this point, it appears the culture shift has influenced much of corporate America, which should cause some serious concerns for the left, which relied on bullying companies into adhering to their ideology.
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