Summary

Meta’s recent shift to right-leaning policies, including ending fact-checking in the U.S., scaling back content moderation, and allowing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, has sparked boycotts and a user exodus.

The company also disbanded its diversity, equity, and inclusion team, drawing criticism.

Prominent users like director Cord Jefferson and nonprofits like Equal Access Public Media have left or reduced activity on Meta platforms.

Many are migrating to alternatives such as Bluesky, Amigahood, and Tumblr, while some remain trapped due to Meta’s dominance in communication and business.

  • Free_Opinions@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    77
    ·
    7 hours ago

    I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the moral panic caused by this, at least a little. It shows that the pendulum is indeed swinging back from the woke left toward a more reasonable, rational center.

    Disagreeing with things like DEI programs doesn’t make someone far-right - it just means they’re not far-left. You might not like it, but the reality is that the vast majority of people don’t agree with many of the views that are overrepresented on left-wing social media platforms like Lemmy. Doubling down on it just means losing more elections.

    • ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 hours ago

      Meta literally changed the rules specifically so you can call LGBTQ people mentally ill without repercussions.

      Trying to convince anyone these changes are not far-right is just telling on yourself.

    • tree_frog@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      3 hours ago

      Gaslighting LGBTQ folks. Misogynistic stances towards women. Nationalist stances towards immigration.

      Seems far-right to me.

      If you have a good faith argument as to how that’s not Nazi shit other than, ‘DEI hires are woke’, I’d love to hear it. Because it seems like you based your whole argument on a very narrow understanding of the situation.

    • MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      3 hours ago

      DEI is actually sound policy for corporations to consider especially on a managerial level or in creative roles. Having people with different perspectives can be a huge asset in business.

      Musk is far-right because he’s praising the policy choices of far-right politicians. Trump et al are extremely far right as fascism is a far right ideology.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      4 hours ago

      Tell me that you don’t understand why the republicans won.

      They didn’t win because people agree with the neo-nazi adjacent right (which, I bet you’re in denial about, but republicans always are), they won because the Democrats abandoned the working class and stupid people thought the Republicans would be better for them despite all empirical evidence.

      You’re right tho, disagreeing with dei programs doesn’t make you a Nazi, it just makes you willing bedfellows with them.

      • Free_Opinions@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        edit-2
        3 hours ago

        You seem to be making lots of assumptions here. You could’ve just asked if you want to know what I think about something.

    • RedSeries (She/Her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Tough talk from a UK instance chud named “free opinions” who hides behind phrases like “rational argument” and “unpopular opinions” to say heinous shit.

    • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      5 hours ago

      There are two main issues with the large commercial social media platforms. The first is that they do not allow for downvoting. The second is that they maximise engagement rather than quality of posts. The end result is that they consistently push controversial posts (i.e. misinformation).

      Factchecking mitigates this but only to a tiny extent. The reason there is far less misinformation on platforms like Lemmy is that content is pushed on the basis of net votes (upvoted minus downvotes) and misinformation tends to be downvoted rapidly.

    • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      40
      ·
      edit-2
      6 hours ago

      Is your idea of the “rational” center removing fact checking, reducing content moderation on political topics (which if history is of any indication means letting far right content to spread) and allowing the use of hateful speech against people you don’t like? I guess the fact that you think DEI is a far-left idea does indicate that you do think that would be the center.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        5 hours ago

        Imagine thinking that having a diverse workforce is a good thing is a “far-left idea” and not just helpful for your business because it gives you different perspectives into different possible customers…

        • andallthat@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          ·
          edit-2
          4 hours ago

          Accepting diversity as part of life and not making life more miserable for people just because they don’t look like you or have your same taste, gender or religious beliefs shouldn’t be far left or far anything. It’s just the decent thing to do. It’s ironic how in the US the political side that aligns themselves more closely with radical Christian beliefs is so against that view

          • frunch@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            4 hours ago

            It’s ironic how in the US the political side that aligns themselves more closely with radical Christian beliefs is so against that view

            This is the famous ‘virtue signaling’ they love to accuse their perceived enemies of. They have discovered they have carte blanche to be the most vile, heinous pieces of shit as long as they proclaim that “they love Jesus”. We saw how Trump was cast as a savior while holding someone’s bible upside down in front of a church that didn’t want him there. Millions of Americans made Trump, Jesus, and guns into their political platform. The Kool-Aid appears to have replaced the blood of Christ, lol

            • andallthat@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              3 hours ago

              “we love you Jesus, whether you want it or not. Your body my choice. Now shut up and get back on that cross”

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            4 hours ago

            Oh I agree, but DEI initiatives are very pro-business specifically. They help increase profits. And these late-stage capitalist assholes don’t even get it.

            • andallthat@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              4 hours ago

              That part I don’t know. I’m not saying it’s not true, I certainly see the reasoning for why it should be good for business. But the classic conservative counter-argument is that you shouldn’t need to regulate it, because The Mythical Free Market should ensure that companies with a more diverse workforce out-compete the others.

              So I prefer to think that sometimes you do things that are right just because you think they are right and even if they cost you. And as part of that, you vote with your wallet and maybe use products that are slightly less shiny and convenient than others because the companies behind them treat people more nicely. And then the Mythical Free Market does also start taking care of things and allowing these nicer companies to survive and even out-compete the Metas of this world. (But we’re all here discussing on Lemmy, so probably I’m already preaching to the choir on this one)

              • Zink@programming.dev
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                27 minutes ago

                Several years ago I got to have lunch with the head of HR at my then-employer. It was a mid sized publicly traded global corporation, and the HR VP was generally the old white sanitized robot you’d expect.

                The one discussion I remember was him describing how diversity is legitimately an asset for businesses that produces better results. It wasn’t “we believe in equality” or “we show the public that we care” or “we have to.” It was literally that it makes the big number get a little bit bigger. And to be clear, I’m a white guy like him.

                So when huge companies cast it aside I think the most gracious possible interpretation is that the soulless drones that value only money see more benefit in having the support of the right wing government and the worst parts of the population than having a better performing workforce.

                There are much less kind interpretations obviously, and some of them are probably right.

              • MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                2 hours ago

                The issue with letting the market resolve everything is that means we will permit companies to intentionally harm people until we figure out they are the issue rather than stopping practices we know to be harmful ahead of time. This is the bit that never gets stressed in school when you learn about right wing libertarianism in US schools.

              • tree_frog@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                3 hours ago

                Workforce diversity was touched on in my college business courses (I went to work in the non-profit sector).

                It’s a benefit to companies for all the reasons squid stated. Nixing it is virtue signaling towards the fascist regime.

                • andallthat@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  44 minutes ago

                  I’m really happy to hear that, thanks! I mean, not the nixing part… the “not being a complete asshole is even good for business”

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                4 hours ago

                But DEI isn’t regulated. It’s just a policy some companies and local governments have. Fewer and fewer because conservatives keep throwing hissy fits about it.

                • andallthat@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  33 minutes ago

                  I get your point and you’re right, thanks, I used “regulated” wrong. I meant that the expectation, if the market worked as advertised, is that companies that do keep DEI policies in place would have a competitive advantage over others. Then, clearly, sucking up to whoever’s in power has probably a much larger effect on these companies’ profits, so the market is probably not working as advertised…

    • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      5 hours ago

      but the reality is that the vast majority of people don’t agree with many of the views that are overrepresented on left-wing social media platforms like Lemmy

      Is this true? Or is this just “people you know” and what the media you consume tells you?

      If it is true then adding in the sources of where you got this information would really help your argument. Hell you may actually get more people to agree with you if you have solid evidence of what you said.

      If this is just what “feels” right to you or if this is just something that other people told you is right then maybe look into that and see if reality lines up with what you are feeling and hearing.

      • Free_Opinions@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        13
        ·
        edit-2
        4 hours ago

        Like 95% of social media users, regardless of the platform, are mostly lurkers. A tiny fraction of the total user base creates the majority of the content. This is a self-selecting group of people who, by definition, don’t represent the average person - the average person doesn’t comment on message boards.

        Reading discussions on Lemmy, for example, can create a skewed perspective of reality. Views like being okay with murdering CEOs are fairly popular here, yet I’ve never met anyone in real life who thinks this way. My work involves going into people’s homes to fix things, and we frequently chat about current events. I find that my average customer is far more reasonable in their views compared to the extreme opinions that often get highly upvoted here.

        There’s also the broader observation that the left seems to struggle to win elections globally. We hear a lot about people moving toward the right, but rarely about anyone moving the other way. I’m not claiming this as absolute truth - it’s simply how I see things. Of course, there’s always a chance I could be wrong.

        • MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          2 hours ago

          Right wing ideologies tend to be simpler and thus appeal to those that tend to dislike nuance.

          You are likely correct that the views here are not the norm though as this is a very fringe form of social media started by leftists so unsurprisingly there are lots of fringe views.

          As for the killing of health care CEO’s that’s something that you might not be seeing people agree with because if you aren’t in America you might not get that the murdered executive made millions denying access to health care to those that were paying for insurance. Do you get mad when serial killers are killed? The victim made his money off of letting people die so he could have more money that he did not need.

          There’s no reason for the US health insurance industry to exist except to take money from the working class and hand it to the investor class. US health insurers do not make health care more available, more efficient, cheaper or safer. The only thing it does is make everything more expensive.

          • Free_Opinions@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            2 hours ago

            Right wing ideologies tend to be simpler and thus appeal to those that tend to dislike nuance.

            I don’t agree with this - at least not in the sense that there’s a significant difference between the left and the right here. Both sides tend to oversimplify and misrepresent each other’s views in online discussions. However, when you dig deeper into why someone holds a certain stance, it’s very rare to find it entirely lacking in nuance, regardless of which political side they’re coming from.

            • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 hour ago

              But the issue is that right-wing positions aren’t logically coherent. There’s always at least a couple of points where they don’t logically work, because the positions aren’t derived from axioms or first principles. They only make sense if you ignore lots of counterarguments.

              Even if left-wing positions are held without nuance, the positions themselves can still be complex. This simply isn’t the case with right-wing positions.

              So while the reasons for holding a right-wing position might have nuance, the positions themselves don’t.

              • Free_Opinions@feddit.uk
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 hour ago

                That’s quite a broad generalization. While this applies to some positions, sure, you seem to be implying it’s true of right-wing views as a whole which simply isn’t true.

    • Baguette@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Ah yes because wanting to not be discriminated against and censoring hate speech is such a woke thing /s