‘Era of diversity, equity and inclusion over’: but US not alone

Even before his inauguration, the return of Donald Trump is driving a sweeping cultural transformation, and Tom Minear argues it will affect Australians too.

Donald Trump did not even have to take the oath of office to change the world.

His political comeback is already driving a cultural transformation with consequences for all of us.

Those who are fond of the President-elect see this as a necessary correction for a liberal-controlled society.

Cynics suggest those taking his lead are merely trying to curry favour with him. While each view contains kernels of truth, these changes are happening either way.

For a start, the era of diversity, equity and inclusion is over. Across corporate America, big companies are following Mr Trump’s lead and pulling back from DEI programs which took off in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is among those leading the charge, arguing DEI initiatives have sometimes left men feeling demonised or ostracised, and workplaces need more “masculine energy”.

Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

The risk in completely removing these sometimes flawed policies, however, is that very real problems – like the gender pay gap and sexual harassment – will be ignored.

Mr Zuckerberg is also on the frontline of another major change: the rollback of fact-checking and content moderation online. He echoes Mr Trump’s view that such restrictions became “too politically biased”, saying it is “time to get back to our roots around free expression”.

The big tech platforms have certainly been overly censorious. That said, a balance must be struck, for the wild west of disinformation on Elon Musk’s X is a recipe for disaster.

It is worth remembering here that Mr Trump blamed Mr Zuckerberg for interfering in the 2020 election and threatened he would “spend the rest of his life in prison”. So the self-interest in the Facebook founder’s sudden conversion on these issues cannot be underestimated.

President-elect Donald Trump at a campaign rally in the US in November 2024. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Nevertheless, Mr Zuckerberg is not the only billionaire to make the pilgrimage to Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate since his election victory. Everyone from Jeff Bezos to Bill Gates has been spotted at what the President-elect calls “the centre of the universe”.

This represents another key change: corporate power no longer revolves around Silicon Valley or Wall Street, but Mr Trump’s Florida home and the White House in Washington DC.

For better or worse, Australia is not immune from these trends. Companies which unenthusiastically went along with the DEI trend are pulling back. Social media users are at the mercy of fact-checking changes. And our leaders must navigate new power structures.

Originally published as ‘Era of diversity, equity and inclusion over’: but US not alone