A quiet but determined protest has emerged at Meta’s corporate offices, fueled by a series of controversial changes introduced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Employees are pushing back against recent decisions that seem to align the company more closely with former President Donald Trump’s policies, sparking dissatisfaction among workers.
Diversity Initiatives Removed and Sanitary Products Taken Away
The protests gained traction after Zuckerberg announced that Meta would be eliminating its diversity initiatives—something that had long been a target for Trump’s administration.
This decision was followed by another controversial move: the removal of sanitary products from men’s restrooms.
These products, which had been introduced to support transgender and nonbinary employees, were quietly taken out of the restrooms.
However, employees, dissatisfied with this change, began restocking the restrooms themselves with tampons, pads, and liners.
Five employees confirmed the protest and the movement quickly gathered momentum, with a petition circulating to demand the return of the sanitary products.
What started as a small act of resistance has now become a symbol of the growing divide between Silicon Valley’s workforce and its leadership, especially as the leadership has increasingly embraced right-wing politics.
A Shift in Silicon Valley’s Leadership and Values
Zuckerberg’s policy shifts are just one example of a broader trend taking place in Silicon Valley, where many tech giants are aligning themselves with conservative ideals.
Once known for their progressive values, leaders at Meta, Google, Apple, and Amazon have recently shown increasing support for Trump’s administration.
This shift was particularly evident when Zuckerberg, along with Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook, and Jeff Bezos, attended Trump’s inauguration, a moment that sent shockwaves through their companies.
Despite the public alignment with Trump, workers have not staged the large-scale protests seen during Trump’s first term.
Instead, employees have opted for more subtle forms of protest, often expressing their frustrations quietly within their companies.
For instance, at Google, one employee approved a celebratory fireworks animation for Trump’s inauguration, leaving a digital paper trail that revealed the decision had been mandated by CEO Pichai.
Similarly, at Amazon, workers exchanged messages expressing their dissatisfaction, with one employee likening the company’s participation in the event to a betrayal.
Tech Giants Tighten Control Over Employee Dissent
The shift in leadership style has resulted in a much tighter grip on Silicon Valley’s workforce.
In the past few years, tech CEOs like Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have ramped up performance expectations and cracked down on internal dissent.
Musk’s overhaul of X (formerly Twitter) served as a wake-up call, with Musk laying off more than three-quarters of his workforce in 2022, declaring that only the “hardcore” employees would remain.
This marked a new era of top-down authoritarian leadership in the tech world, where questioning leadership could cost employees their jobs.
At Meta, the situation has been just as intense.
Internal message boards, once filled with political debate, have been purged of dissenting views.
Posts criticizing Zuckerberg have been removed, and employees who voiced such opinions have received warnings from HR.
When a petition was organized to reinstate sanitary products in Meta’s restrooms, the response was a blunt email from the company’s VP of workplace services, stating there were “no plans to revisit on-site amenities offerings.”
The Rightward Turn at Meta and Other Tech Giants
Zuckerberg’s rightward turn is clear.
In addition to removing diversity programs, he’s appointed Republican-aligned executives and even brought Trump ally Dana White onto Meta’s board of directors.
His recent remarks about the need for “more masculine energy” in corporate leadership have only added to the anxiety among employees, many of whom feel that the company’s values are shifting away from the inclusivity and diversity that once defined Silicon Valley.
Employees who had hoped to ask Zuckerberg directly about his decisions at internal Q&A sessions have found those opportunities increasingly sanitized, with leadership skipping questions deemed “unproductive if they leak.”
One internal question about how women at Meta could bring more “masculine energy” to the workplace was predictably ignored.
Silicon Valley’s Progressive Ethos Under Siege
The protests at Meta reflect a much larger shift in Silicon Valley, where tech leaders who once championed diversity, inclusion, and globalism are now aligning with a president who actively vilified these ideals.
The once-unshakable progressive ethos of Silicon Valley is now under siege, and employees find themselves at odds with leadership in ways they never imagined.