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Meta announced today that it is saying goodbye to DEI. Its memo to employees, which I take it was signed by Mark Zuckerberg, is here. It begins:

Hi all, I wanted to share some changes we’re making to our hiring, development and procurement practices. Before getting into the details, there is some important background to lay out:

The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing. The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. It reaffirms longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics. 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.

The memo lays out a number of changes in Meta’s employment and supplier policies, concluding with this:

We will no longer have a team focused on DEI. Maxine Williams is taking on a new role at Meta, focused on accessibility and engagement.

In corporate America, DEI is in full retreat, due in considerable part to the fact that it (i.e., race or sex discrimination) is illegal.

Almost simultaneously, Zuckerberg made a bombshell appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. I confess that I haven’t watched it; at three hours a day, following Rogan’s podcast is like having a part-time job. But the portion that has gotten the most attention is Zuckerberg’s description of the abuse Facebook took from the Biden administration:

Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan that the Biden administration tried to force him to censor a meme about the Covid-19 pandemic, and responded with a ‘brutal’ retaliation when he refused.

The Meta chief said in a surprise appearance on the popular podcast that the White House would ‘call up our team and scream at them and curse’ over social media memes.

‘Basically, it just got to this point where we were like no, we’re not going to take down things that are true,’ Zuckerberg said. ‘That’s ridiculous.’

Here is a short video excerpt from the Rogan show:

This is a longer excerpt, clipped by the show itself:

With Twitter/X in the hands of a libertarian and Facebook in the hands of a normal, and perhaps a budding conservative, the social media landscape is completely different from what it was a year or two ago.