It’s unclear if moving teams to Texas will be anything more than symbolic. Common sense suggests that if a person in California shows some sort of political preference, moving them to Texas is not likely to change their views immediately.
On the same call, company leaders described the relocation to Texas as an attempt to address the perception problem with California. That reasoning frustrated employees, who believe Meta is harming its workforce to appease Trump, the three employees told WIRED. Meta and Trump remain in litigation in federal court in Northern California over the temporary suspension of his account following the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. Trump alleges his constitutional right to expression was violated. Zuckerberg recently met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to mediate the lawsuit, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This week Goal plans revealed will cut 5 percent of its workforce starting next month. The company said it plans to fill those positions throughout the year, a move that could lead to more employees being hired in Texas. Following Meta’s decision last week to close its diversity, equity and inclusion program, there will be no targets for hiring historically underrepresented groups.
Last week’s changes to hateful conduct rules allow users to post more scathing criticism, including about gender and ethnicity. During Rogan’s podcast, Zuckerberg said users would now be able to advocate for issues such as whether they should perform military combat roles. Some employees have warned that Meta is now supporting the spread of misogyny and intolerance in its services, according to two of the workers.
On the town hall call with employees, one executive defended the policy changes, saying they would open the door to a multitude of perspectives, such as being able to call men on Facebook lazy without fear of being censored, according to an employee present.
In law enforcement, Meta is shutting down its current fact-checking program, limiting the use of automated filters to remove allegedly offensive posts, and promoting more political content in news feeds.
On Tuesday, 12 civil rights groups that say they have advised Meta for years wrote to the company express “serious concern” about the revised policies. “These changes are devastating to free expression because they will subject members of protected groups to further attacks, harassment and harm, expelling them from Meta services, impoverishing conversations, suppressing points of view, and silencing dissenting and often censored voices,” wrote. the group, which includes the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Human Rights Campaign and the National Black Justice Collective.
At the safety and integrity town hall, management did not commit to continuing to publish statistics on the racial and gender composition of the company’s employees. “It’s capitulation in the worst way,” says one.
Individually, some managers have told their teams they plan to continue pushing for diverse hiring, according to three employees.
Additional reporting by Steven Levy.