Christopher Rufo: Why Meta's decision to abolish DEI could be a turning point

Editor's note: The following column first appeared in City Journal.

Last week, Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a surprising announcement. He eliminated the company's DEI program and severed ties with fact-checking organizations, which he acknowledged amounted to a form of “censorship.” Left-wing media immediately attacked the decision, accusing him of embracing MAGA policies and predicting a dangerous increase in so-called disinformation.

Zuckerberg's move was carefully calculated and perfectly timed. The November election felt like a “cultural tipping point to re-prioritize speech,” he said. DEI efforts, especially those related to immigration and gender, had become “separated from the mainstream conversation” and unsustainable.

This is no small shift in attitude. Just four years ago, Zuckerberg spent hundreds of millions of dollars on left-wing campaign programs. His role was widely opposed by conservatives. And Mehta was at the forefront of identity-based or left-wing ideological movements.

MetaPolicy chief says decision to end DEI will allow companies to hire 'the most talented people'

No more. As part of the rollout of the announcement, Zuckerberg released a video and appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast. Podcasts now serve as a confessional for American elites who no longer believe in left-wing orthodoxy. On the podcast, Zuckerberg sounded more like a right-winger than a California progressive, arguing that culture needs a better balance of “masculine” and “feminine” energies.

Meta executives issued pink slips to DEI employees to, in Zuckerberg's words, “alleviate concerns that biased employees are over-censoring content.” , quickly implemented new policies, including moving the company's content management team from California to Texas.

Mr. Zuckerberg is not the first technology executive to make such an announcement, but he is perhaps the most important. Facebook is one of Silicon Valley's biggest companies, and Zuckerberg has set a precedent that many smaller businesses will likely follow.

But the most important signal from this decision is not about specific changes in policy, but about overall changes in culture. Zuckerberg was never an ideologue. He seems more interested in building his own company and continuing to enjoy the benefits of elite society. But like many successful, self-respecting men, he was independent-minded and clearly resented the cultural constraints that DEI placed on his company. So he seized the moment, correctly sensing that President Donald Trump's impending inauguration would reduce the risks and increase the rewards of such change.

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Zuckerberg is certainly not a courageous truth-teller. For the past decade, he bought into DEI because it signaled elite status. Now, as if the barometer suddenly dropped, those signals have reversed and he is trying to change their course and shift the blame to the outgoing Biden administration, which, according to Logan, It is said that this was a convenient excuse to pressure the government into implementing the measures. More convenient moments.

But the good news is that no matter what after-the-fact rationalizations executives made, DEI and its cultural assumptions suddenly faced serious resistance. We want people to feel confident expressing their true beliefs about DEI as opposed to excellence and believe in cult-like ideologies of “systemic racism” and race-based guilt. We may be entering a critical period in which we stop pretending.

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Of course, DEI is deeply embedded in public institutions, but private institutions and businesses have more flexibility and can implement such programs with the stroke of a pen.

Zuckerberg revealed what this will look like at one of the biggest companies. Conservatives, while cautious, can praise his decision. As President Ronald Reagan famously said, “Trust but verify” is good policy all around.

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