Meta employees can reportedly no longer discuss 'disruptive' topics like abortion, gun rights, and vaccines
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- Meta updated its "community engagement expectations" on Tuesday, Fortune reported.
- The new rules ban staff discussions of abortion, gun rights, and vaccines, the publication said.
- Mark Zuckerberg started setting guidelines for staff's internal communications in 2020.
Meta told employees on Tuesday that they would no longer be allowed to discuss topics at work that the company had deemed "very disruptive in the past," according to a recent report from Fortune.
Meta's head of people, Lori Goler, wrote in an internal forum that the new rules were effective immediately and that off-limit topics include abortion, the effectiveness of vaccines, and gun rights, as well as political issues, including civil movements and elections, Fortune reported.
"We're doing this to ensure that internal discussions remain respectful, productive, and allow us to focus," Goler wrote, per Fortune. "This comes with the trade-off that we'll no longer allow for every type of expression at work, but we think this is the right thing to do for the long-term health of our internal community."
The new rules do not apply to employees that are required to address the topics as a part of their roles at Meta. The "community engagement expectations" also do not govern staff's external communications, including posts on social media, Fortune reported.
A Meta spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication, but told Fortune that the new expectations "provide direction around what is appropriate for our people in the workplace, so that we can reduce distractions while maintaining an environment that is respectful and inclusive and where people can do their best work."
In the memo, the executive said the rules exemplify three principles: focus on the mission, work with respect, and protect company information, Fortune and Ryan Mac, a reporter from The New York Times, reported.
Goler also told staff that Meta will no longer take a public stance on political concerns and will only address "issues that are core to our business, meaning they are required in order to provide our service."
The new rules build on expectations that were set in 2020. In the wake of the police shooting of George Floyd, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg set forth guidelines to govern where within the company's internal communication channels employees could discuss social and political events.
In June, after the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade was leaked, The New York Times reported that Meta had told staff to avoid discussions around the ruling in internal communication channels.
Meta is one of several tech companies that has instituted policies to address social and political discussions at work. Google and Coinbase have also set similar expectations for workers.
Read Fortune's full report on its website.