After Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. elections, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced several changes to the company’s policies, leading to discomfort among employees. The most controversial decisions include the suspension of Meta’s fact-checking feature and its diversity programs. Last Thursday, Zuckerberg addressed the reasons behind these changes during a meeting.
Zuckerberg explained that the changes were made to align with the Trump administration’s preferences. In a leaked interview with The New York Times, he said, “I want to make it clear that after the past few years, we now have an opportunity for productive cooperation with the U.S. government. We are going to seize that opportunity.”
Regarding the decision to shut down Meta’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, Zuckerberg mentioned that it was primarily in response to Trump administration policies. He stated, “We are in a rapidly changing regulatory environment where any policy that gives one group an advantage over another is being deemed illegal.”
Despite pressure from the Trump administration, other large companies like Apple and Costco have continued their diversity programs.
In another leaked audio from a Meta meeting, obtained by media outlet 404 Media, Zuckerberg expressed frustration over how everything he says is leaked to the media.
Meta has sent out a document to its employees, warning that anyone found speaking to the media will be terminated.
Towards the end of the meeting, Zuckerberg also discussed the potential ban on TikTok, calling it one of Meta’s biggest competitors, though he acknowledged Meta has no control over this.
He also mentioned the Chinese AI app DeepSeek, noting that “DeepSeek has released its AI model at a very low price, making it much cheaper than U.S.-based AI models.”
However, Zuckerberg reassured employees that Meta’s own open-source AI model, LLaMA, wouldn’t be negatively affected by DeepSeek’s affordable pricing.
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