Meta kills diversity programs, claiming DEI has become “too charged”

Litazia

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If you consider yourself to be a decent human being, please stop using Meta products. Because their owner isn’t.
Sitting here thinking about how much I miss forums. Like, yeah, they still exist in some places <gestures at here> but just as a general place to hang out and not be subjected to engagement algorithms and stuff? And have multiple depending on your interests? Yeah those were cool days.

Also thinking about how to keep in touch with people who only have Facebook. I don’t want to give my relatives my phone number because that can lead to some whacked out shit.
 
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MrMalthus

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Meta faced backlash this week over leaked rule changes relaxing Meta's hate speech policies, The Intercept reported
If you haven't read this story, I strongly suggest it. They quote directly from facebook's new content management rules, with a ton of examples of allowed and disallowed examples they're using for training.

Allowed:
"Trans people are mentally ill"
"Immigrants are grubby, filthy pieces of shit."
Disallowed:
"Christian men are totally useless"

Free speech!
 
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This is all missing the most important thing happening, which is that Zuck has ditched the Data look for a Zoomer haircut. And let's be honest, it just does not work. Zuck needs to look weird and own it.
A wild taint vs a groomed taint is just splitting hairs.
 
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I imagine FB and Instagrm are easy to ditch for most; but not WhatsApp. I wish there was an easy way to get the millions of WhatsApp users to swtich to an alternaitve.
It's not easy, but I'm doing my best. FB is a medium for keeping in touch with friends and family, and there's really no easy replacement. I've tried in the past. maybe private Bluesky profiles or groups might work.

But where do people like my partner go for social promotion of their small indy bookstore? Not Twitter, not Threads, and Bluesky is still way too small for the mass market. It's horrible out there. A wealth of potential, but nothing good.
 
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barich

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Since color/gender/religion/nationality are generally not relevant to one's job duties, choosing to hire people based on those attributes strikes me as no more logical than declining to hire someone based on those attributes.

If I were a shareholder, I'd want them to focus on hiring the most qualified candidates, even if they're striped aliens from a species with three genders.

People bringing different life experiences to their work is critical to get a multitude of perspectives. And as much as some people want to claim that it's not true, people's color/gender/religion/nationality play heavily into those life experiences.
 
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bruce927

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If we ever get to have a real election again, we really need to bring in people who will punish them, harshly, for this behavior.
Big if, and even if so do you put the odds higher of someone who will take action getting in or a meek centrist who will keep the seat warm for the next fascist?
 
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If we ever get to have a real election again, we really need to bring in people who will punish them, harshly, for this behavior.
This needs to be a significant portion of the next D platform. It needs to have teeth and follow-through. Especially since we're going to see what it's like to live in a country controlled by the rich.
 
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thrillgore

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I'm already exhausted and there are still ten days until Trump takes office. I don't know how we're all going to survive this.
Some are asking if we want to survive it.

This needs to be a significant portion of the next D platform. It needs to have teeth and follow-through. Especially since we're going to see what it's like to live in a country controlled by the rich.
Don't hold your breath. The rich also control the Dems.

We need a new leftist party.
 
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jezra

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People bringing different life experiences to their work is critical to get a multitude of perspectives. And as much as some people want to claim that it's not true, people's color/gender/religion/nationality play heavily into those life experiences.
True as that is, Meta doesn't want "perspectives". It wants exploitable, underpaid H1B visa holders.
 
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Fabermetrics

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True as that is, Meta doesn't want "perspectives". It wants exploitable, underpaid H1B visa holders.
Trump and Elon coming out in support H1B before distracting us with the Greenland nonsense should be enough info for everyone to understand exactly who the H1B program benefits.
 
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This comment being downvoted so heavily highlights the reason we need society to purge DEI and media censorship. This is the objectively correct take. These policies have literally rewired people's brains to think racism is noble, and attacks on free speech are good for democracies. It's profoundly insane.
You are arguing from a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of DEI. DEI IS designed to hire the best candidates, by getting people who would otherwise not do so to consider candidates outside of their comfort zone. This IS best for shareholders because it results in better company performance.
 
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J.C. Helios

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Meta claims it will find other ways to hire employees from different backgrounds.

Subheadline feels too generous. They could fulfill their stated promise by doing literally nothing: Meta has 70,000 employees, so they're bound to hire people from all kinds of backgrounds purely by chance. In which case, there's nothing to "find."
 
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caramelpolice

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You are arguing from a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of DEI. DEI IS designed to hire the best candidates, by getting people who would otherwise not do so to consider candidates outside of their comfort zone. This IS best for shareholders because it results in better company performance.
Let me be blunt: You don't know what DEI initiative do. Period. Not a single clue.

Because the entire goal of DEI is to make sure that biases against color/gender/religion/nationality are recognized and removed as factors in the hiring decision. In other words, DEI makes sure that you are hiring the people with the best skills for the job. The most qualified candidates.
It's very generous of you folks to assume these people are arguing in good faith from a place of ignorance, when they more likely understand perfectly well what DEI systems do (counteract the long-standing biases in favor of white men) and hate it for exactly that.
 
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