Meta has announced the termination of its DEI initiatives.

• Meta announced the termination of several internal programs aimed at enhancing the company's diverse hiring practices on Friday.
• The company announced that it will no longer practice excluding qualified candidates from underrepresented groups for open roles and will discontinue its equity and inclusion training programs.
• Maxine Williams, the Chief Diversity Officer at Meta, will transition into a new role that emphasizes accessibility and engagement.

On Friday, the company announced that it would be ending several internal programs aimed at increasing diverse hiring, marking the latest significant change before President-elect Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House.

Meta's vice president of people, Janelle Gale, announced the news on the company's Workplace internal communications forum.

Meta is ending its "Diverse Slate Approach," putting an end to its diversity supplier program and equity and inclusion training programs, and disbanding its DEI team. Gale also announced that Meta's Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams will move into a new role focused on accessibility and engagement.

Gale's new policy received criticism from several Meta employees through comments on their post.

"Values are not hobbies; they are principles that must be upheld even during tough times," an employee stated in a comment that garnered over 600 reactions from colleagues.

This month, Meta has implemented a number of sweeping policy reversals, including replacing global affairs head Nick Clegg with Joel Kaplan and ending the company's third-party fact-checking program.

Meta didn't immediately respond to Axios's report on the DEI changes at the social media company.

Below is the full version of Gale's memo, which CNBC obtained.

Greetings everyone, I would like to inform you of some modifications we are implementing in our recruitment, training, and purchasing procedures. However, prior to delving into specifics, it is crucial to establish some essential context:

The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is undergoing changes. The Supreme Court of the United States has recently issued decisions indicating a shift in how courts will approach DEI. These decisions reaffirm longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics. The term "DEI" has also become controversial, as some people interpret it as a practice that implies preferential treatment of certain groups over others.

At Meta, we believe in serving everyone through cognitively diverse teams that bring different knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Such teams are better at innovating, solving complex problems, and identifying new opportunities, which ultimately helps us achieve our goal of building products that serve everyone. Additionally, we have always believed that no one should be given or deprived of opportunities based on protective characteristics, and this principle remains unchanged.

In light of the evolving legal and policy environment, we are implementing the following modifications.

• We will continue to source candidates from diverse backgrounds, but we will no longer use the Diverse Slate Approach. This practice has been subject to public debate and is currently being challenged. We believe there are other ways to build an industry-leading workforce and leverage teams made up of world-class people from all backgrounds to create products that work for everyone.

• We previously abandoned representation goals for women and ethnic minorities. Although we have never made decisions based on race or gender, we want to avoid any perception of it.

• Our supplier diversity initiative, which aimed to source from diverse-owned businesses, will be discontinued as part of our broader supplier strategy. Instead, we will concentrate on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises that contribute significantly to our economy. All qualified suppliers, including those who were part of our supplier diversity program, will still have access to opportunities.

• We will create programs that emphasize fair and consistent practices to reduce bias for all individuals, regardless of their background.

• Maxine Williams is leaving her role as head of DEI at Meta to focus on accessibility and engagement.

Our People Practices continue to be guided by the same principles.

1. We are dedicated to ensuring that our products are advantageous, advantageous, and have a significant impact on all individuals.
2. We construct the strongest teams by selecting the most skilled individuals, regardless of their protected characteristics, such as race or gender.
3. We maintain fairness and objectivity in employment practices by avoiding preferential treatment, extra opportunities, or unjustified credit based on protected characteristics. We also do not devalue impact based on these characteristics.
4. Our company fosters connections and communities by supporting our employees, customers, and local communities. We maintain open employee community groups (MRGs) for everyone.

Meta is committed to serving billions of people daily and ensuring that its products are accessible and beneficial to all. The company remains focused on providing a diverse and skilled workforce to promote economic growth and opportunity worldwide.

Chris Kelly, Facebook's former chief privacy officer, announced that Meta is reinstating its commitment to free speech.