DEI decommitments had already been a hot topic in 2024, and this year just continued that trend. Often citing the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump and the technical assistance documents issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, private companies continued to roll back DEI.
As early as January, the tone for DEI in 2025 was set, with employers re-establishing their stance in some way. Some organizations opted to erase the words “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion” from internal documents and external employer branding. Others eliminated their employee resource groups and their previous supplier diversity initiatives.
Others still held fast to their existing talent strategy, re-emphasizing that no one would be excluded from ERGs or professional development or mentoring programs, and clinging onto the language of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Among these organizations were Meta, which divested from DEI in nuanced ways, and Amazon, whose late 2023 shift to “inclusion” resulted in its website being scrubbed of support of LGBTQ+ and Black people. Meanwhile, companies like Apple and Disney drew a line in the sand by shooting down anti-DEI shareholder proposals.
Read on to immerse yourself in the full spectrum of DEI news from the past 12 fast and furious months.
