Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has announced the immediate termination of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, including initiatives for equitable hiring, employee training, and supplier selection, according to an internal memo obtained by Axios. This decision, coinciding with Meta’s apparent capitulation to the incoming Trump administration, marks more than just groveling or strategic posturing—it signifies a fundamental shift in the company’s leaning towards “Musk-style” far right ideology.

To me, this is a betrayal of the Founding Father’s promise, which is firmly rooted in the US Constitution and a stab in the backs of those who fought to ensure Civil Rights for all; this move is a direct affront to the vision of an equal and just society championed by leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Their dream of dismantling systemic white privilege, which is often entangled with hate, racism and ensuring that no individual is treated as a second-class citizen has been dealt a severe blow by Meta’s retreat from DEI initiatives, which, if you ask me, is a form of reparations for decades of racial discrimination and forced labour extraction. Such initiatives are not mere corporate niceties; they are essential tools for addressing systemic inequities which have long plagued US Society and a chance to redress and correct past mistakes.

Instead, Meta’s decision reflects a willingness to sacrifice these ideals for a brand of white nationalism that is toxic and divisive, bowing to political and capitalist forces that seek to roll back hard-won gains of the First Amendment, which guarantees the civil rights of all Americans regardless of ethnicity, class or religion. It is a betrayal of the global majority, who have fought tirelessly for representation, fairness, and respect. Now we know why CRT is necessary and essential for enlightening the next generation. But instead, it is seen as a threat to white nationalism and sensibilities.

The Irony of DEI Beneficiaries as incompetent people of color who have usurped jobs more suitable to more able white people is beyond insane and is a direct insult to every Black and Brown person who walks the face of the earth. How egocentric and ahistorical can one be to think in such a racialize manner. I mean, this is just how Hitler thought, and look where his brand of racism got the world— 12 million innocent lives lost to firing squads, gas chambers and ovens! Ask, in the name of white supremacy… when will they learn. The white nationalist believes the world belongs to them and the rest of us (who were here first, by the way) are mere tenants whose rental contracts can be torn up and cast away when it suits the deranged white elites.

What makes this decision even more disheartening is the fact that DEI initiatives have often benefited groups beyond the marginalized communities they aim to uplift. White women, for instance, have historically been the largest beneficiaries of Affirmative Action and diversity programs. Meanwhile, legacy hires and unqualified white men continue to dominate leadership roles across government and corporations, leveraging privilege and appearances rather than merit.

This myth that minorities are inherently less qualified has long been a tool of oppression. It ignores the reality that Black and Brown people are often among the most productive contributors in companies like Meta, holding vital positions and driving innovation. Take the H-1B Visa scandal for example: Ramaswamy and Musk both clamoring for more South Asian tech engineers to come and work in the US to boost US tech industry to have a fair chance of competing with China. By dismantling DEI initiatives, Meta further entrenches a system that favors the privileged unqualified, while sidelining the negatively minoritized qualified.

Erosion of Safe Digital Spaces

Meta’s simultaneous rollback of content moderation policies is a full-scale attack on the moral values we have carefully cultivated over the past fifty years. These safeguards are vital for creating respectful and inclusive online spaces where users can engage without fear of harassment or abuse. By weakening these policies, Meta risks transforming its platforms into hostile environments that amplify hate speech and disinformation, much like Oligarchic X/ Twitter, where the wannabe Dictator Elon Musk spews hate and derision to hundreds of millions of MAGA followers who cling to the dribble from is shrivelled blood red lips.

This is not just a corporate failing; it is part of a broader cultural attack. Zuckerberg hides behind Meta corporate persona, not brave enough to stand up for truth, justice, righteousness and reciprocity. This is nothing but a Republican-led initiatives to undermine free speech under the guise of “protecting free speech” and are, in fact, targeted assaults on the voices of marginalized communities. By aligning himself with these efforts, Zuckerberg contributes to an agenda rooted in white supremacy, perpetuating a society where the most vulnerable are silenced and white terrorists are allowed to live out their psychotic fantasy on the vulnerable.

It is incumbent upon us to thoroughly examine these blatant regressive political ploys from the perspective of a Machiavellian framework. As Machiavelli argued in The Prince, “It is much safer to be feared than loved when one of the two must be lacking” (Machiavelli, 1513/1992), a principle that reflects how the billionaire class manipulates the poorer classes for economic gains through fear and control. Facebook operates within a capitalistic, colonial extractive model, aligning with Frantz Fanon’s assertion in The Wretched of the Earth that “colonialism is not satisfied merely with holding a people in its grip and emptying the native’s brain of all form and content; by a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past of the oppressed people and distorts it” (Fanon, 1963). This model, as reflected in Zuckerberg’s actions, perpetuates a broader historical pattern of exploitation and commodification of Black and Brown talent, reinforcing W.E.B. Du Bois’ notion of the “color line” as a mechanism of systemic inequality. Facebook extracts cultural capital and economic value from marginalized communities while offering little intent to fairly compensate for the talent and cultural wealth users generate, echoing Cedric Robinson’s critique of racial capitalism, where “capital was racial not because of the particularity of the laborers collected under its aegis but because racialism had already permeated the social structures emergent European society” (Robinson, 1983).

For centuries, the West has treated these communities as mere mercantile property, tools for labor, entertainment, and profit. From the plantation to the factory to the tech firm, the products of Black and Brown labor have been commodified, owned, controlled, and commercialized by those who wield the means of production and then discarded after the nefarious will of the oligarchs have been satiated. The propagation of white lies and white misrepresentation of historical events is a direct symptom of white racism and capitalism. The psychosis of whiteness generates invisible threats from the victims of their aggression.

Meta’s decision to end DEI initiatives underscores this postcolonial mindset, in which diversity is good if it is profitable and is seen as an inconvenience or a threat to the status quo if it fails to increase profitability. Inclusion is seen not as fairness but as competition for power, and upward social mobility is a threat if it impacts the CEO’s astronomical pay package; workers’ rights become bothersome if they attempt to unionise and so on.

Figures like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Mark Zuckerberg are now openly shedding the veneer of inclusivity, signalling their disdain for the other (lower classes), progress and equality. They no longer feel compelled to “play nice,” instead embracing ideologies rooted in supremacy and exploitation due to the potentially limitless profit that can be gained from emboldening poor whites and white nationalists to resent Hispanic immigrants whilst turning the model minority groups (South and East Asians) against Black Americans. Therefore, the weaponization of DEI by MAGA is blatant racial discrimination set to roll back the clock for decades to come. It is a culling of Black and Brown Americans from the seat of power, rescinding rights and privileges that were earned through blood, sweat and tears.

The weaponization of DEI as a slur against Black and Brown communities is a rejection of truth, an affront to justice and human rights, and another tool used to support white lies about Indigenous people. It perpetuates the harmful narrative that minorities are unqualified or undeserving, framing them as fulfilling quotas and as unworthy recipients of the “benevolence” of white lead businesses and institutions—feeding the racist ideology of the “White man’s burden,” a trope based purely on fantasy and consciousness dissonance. This rhetoric, rooted in arrogance and egotism, reveals the fragility of those who purport and subscribe to racial hierarchies. Meanwhile, the US Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the United States Defence Secretary. This former Fox News host was summarily dismissed from the US military due to holding extreme white supremacist views; he has no prior experience in leading a large organisation comparable to the size of the US military; he has a track record of alcoholism, allegations of sex with a minor, and ultimately bankrupting two veteran charities.

The idea that one must be white and male to be qualified is not only ludicrous but also indicative of a broader regression in American politics. It reflects the growing influence of Trump’s fascist rhetoric, which seeks to dismantle the progress of the Civil Rights Movement and cement the dominance of a narrow, shortsighted, supremacist vision. It reveals Trump’s true nature as one who is against democracy. If Zuckerberg is taking his cues from MAGA, then he does not deserve the platform that Facebook has become. Imagine if all the Black and Brown users of the platform decide to close their accounts? What would become of Facebook?

Conclusion

Meta’s dismantling of DEI programs and rollback of content moderation policies is more than just a business decision—it is an ideological stance that reinforces systems of oppression and exploitation. It betrays the trust of users and employees, erasing years of progress in the fight for equality.