(Reuters) -Alphabet’s Google is scrapping its goal to hire more employees from historically underrepresented groups and is reviewing some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
With this, Google joins a slew of U.S. businesses that have been scaling back their diversity initiatives, years after pushing for more inclusive policies in the wake of protests against the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020.
The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Alphabet’s annual filing with the U.S. SEC on Wednesday showed it omitted a line saying it was “committed to making diversity, equity and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve”.
That statement appeared in annual reports from 2021 to 2023.
According to the WSJ report, Google also said it was reviewing recent court decisions and executive orders by President Donald Trump aimed at curbing DEI in the government and federal contractors.
Earlier this month, Facebook-parent Meta Platforms said in an internal memo it was ending its DEI programs, including those for hiring, training and picking suppliers.
Amazon also said it was “winding down outdated programs and materials” related to representation and inclusion, in a memo to its employees, seen by Reuters.
Conservative groups, fortified by a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidated affirmative action in university admissions, have condemned DEI programs and have threatened litigation against companies implementing them.
Earlier this month, Elon Musk and other allies of Trump, attributed DEI programs as an impediment to the response efforts for the severe wildfires in Los Angeles.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
