A quiet yet defiant protest has emerged among employees of Meta at its corporate offices after a series of sweeping changes made by CEO Mark Zuckerberg who has aligned his company more closely with the policies of President Donald Trump.
Just days after Zuckerberg announced Meta would eliminate its diversity initiatives – a long-standing target of Trump’s previous administration – the company also removed sanitary products from men’s restrooms.
The provision had been introduced to support transgender and nonbinary employees.
But the decision to remove them was met with resistance as workers began restocking the men’s restrooms themselves, placing tampons, pads, and liners back in place.
Five Meta employees familiar with the effort confirmed the protest, which has moved the clash from the boardroom to the bathroom.
A petition was then circulated demanding the reinstatement of such amenities.
The act has become emblematic of a larger movement among Silicon Valley’s workforce, which is increasingly finding itself at odds with the rightward shift of its leadership.
Zuckerberg’s policy shifts are just the latest in a stunning realignment of Silicon Valley’s elite.
Just days after Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta would eliminate its diversity initiatives – a long-standing target of Trump’s previous administration – the company also removed sanitary products from men’s restrooms
Five Meta employees familiar with the effort confirmed the protest. A petition was then circulated demanding the reinstatement of such amenities
There has been covert resistance at Meta with workers restocking the men’s restrooms themselves, placing tampons, pads, and liners back in place
Once bastions of progressive values, the heads of Meta, Google, Apple, and Amazon have recently embraced Trump’s presidency.
The moment was cemented when Zuckerberg, along with Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook, and Jeff Bezos, attended Trump’s inauguration.
The visual of the tech moguls, who once condemned Trump’s policies, now standing alongside him, sent shockwaves through their workforces.
But the discontent has not manifested in the mass protests and open rebellion seen during Trump’s first term. Instead, workers have resorted to subtle yet pointed acts of resistance.
At Google, an employee reluctantly approved a celebratory fireworks animation for Trump’s inauguration, leaving a clear digital paper trail stating that the decision was mandated by Pichai.
At Amazon, employees quietly exchanged messages lamenting their company’s participation in the event, with one likening it to a familial betrayal: ‘Father is at the inauguration.’
Meanwhile, at Apple, stunned employees watched their CEO, Tim Cook, share a platform with Trump after previously making a rare political donation of $1 million to his inauguration fund.
The protests reflect a stark reality: that the balance of power in Silicon Valley has shifted dramatically.
President Trump welcomed Mark Zuckerberg to the Oval Office in 2019, pictured
W Meta and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are seen at the inauguration of Donald Trump in the Rotunda on January 20
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are all seen at Trump’s inauguration
Apple CEO Tim Cook smiles at the inauguration of Donald Trump alongside Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin
Apple CEO Tim Cook looks on behind US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance
Gone are the days when workers could freely challenge their leadership without fear of reprisal.
Over the past few years, Zuckerberg, Musk, and their peers have taken a firm grip on their companies, raising performance expectations, clamping down on internal dissent, and swiftly eliminating those who cross the line.
Musk’s overhaul of X served as a warning shot. Musk’s decision to lay off over three-quarters of his workforce in 2022 and his declaration that only the ‘hardcore’ would survive signaled a new era of top-down authoritarianism in tech.
The message was clear: those who openly defy leadership will find themselves out of a job.
At Meta, the crackdown has been just as intense. Internal message boards that once buzzed with political discourse have been systematically scrubbed of dissent.
Posts criticizing Zuckerberg’s decisions have been removed, and employees responsible for them have received warnings from HR.
When workers recently tried to organize a petition calling for the return of sanitary products to all Meta restrooms, signatories were met with a blunt email from Meta’s workplace services VP: while the company did not intend to make employees feel excluded, there were ‘no plans to revisit on-site amenities offerings.’
A demonstrator carries a placard against Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg as demonstrators march in solidarity with all oppressed women around the world last week in London
Protesters chant during a rally against Trump’s immigration and transgender rights in New on Wednesda
Zuckerberg’s rightward turn has not been subtle.
In addition to gutting diversity programs, he has promoted Republican-aligned executives and appointed Trump ally Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to Meta’s board of directors.
His recent statements on the need for more ‘masculine energy’ in corporate leadership have only fueled employee anxiety.
While many hoped to question Zuckerberg directly about his decisions, Meta’s internal Q&A sessions have been sanitized, with leadership preemptively skipping questions deemed ‘unproductive if they leak.’
One sarcastic yet poignant question that circulated internally – how women at Meta could bring more ‘masculine energy’ to the workplace – was predictably ignored.
Tech leaders who once championed diversity, inclusion, and globalism are now aligning with a president who vilifies these very ideals with the once-unshakable progressive ethos of Silicon Valley now under siege.