Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly directed the removal of tampons from men’s restrooms in the company’s offices, which had been provided to support non-binary and transgender employees who might need them. According to the New York Times, facilities managers across Meta’s Silicon Valley, Texas and New York offices were ordered to get rid of tampons and sanitary pads from the men’s bathrooms.
At “Meta’s offices in Silicon Valley, Texas and New York, facilities managers were instructed to remove tampons from men’s bathrooms, which the company had provided for nonbinary and transgender employees who use the men’s room and who may have required sanitary pads, two employees said,” The Times reported.
The NYT report also said that Meta’s policy changes have sparked internal controversy. On the company’s internal platform, Workplace, employees in the @Pride group expressed concerns and objections. Some even announced their resignation or plans to leave the company. Meta’s chief marketing officer, Alex Schultz, attempted to address the concerns in a post, suggesting that issues like transgender rights had become politicised.
Meta also recently discontinued its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and removed transgender and non-binary themes from its Messenger app. As per reports, these decisions are believed to be part of Meta’s broader strategy to align its internal policies with the expected values of the incoming political leadership.
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, defended the company’s decision to end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in an interview with Fox News Digital. Mr Kaplan stated that this move will enable Meta to “build teams with the most talented people.”
“This means evaluating people as individuals, and sourcing people from a range of candidate pools, but never making hiring decisions based on protected characteristics like race or gender,” he added.
Previously, Meta announced the decision to phase out “fact-checkers” on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with a Community Notes program that allows users to fact-check posts and provide contextual information. The Meta CEO justified Meta’s decision, citing concerns that the previous method was perceived as politically biased and eroded public trust.
He also addressed the controversy surrounding Meta’s content moderation changes in an interview with Joe Rogan. He denied that the changes were made to appease the incoming Trump administration, but acknowledged that the election did influence his thinking.
“We got to this point where there were these things you couldn’t say that were just mainstream discourse,” Mr Zuckerberg explained.
The decisions have sparked intense backlash and debate across social media platforms. Not just Meta, several major companies are reevaluating and rolling back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives following President-elect Trump’s election victory.