Last updated on April 3rd, 2025
Since retaking office last month, Trump’s priorities have included gutting at the federal government level any semblance of focus on diversity—again, because he and his inner circle are racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic. This includes issuing an executive order banning in the federal government anything related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), or even using terms related to such.
Companies needlessly ditching DEI (also: “Gulf of America”?!)
While this only applies (so far) to federal government agencies, private companies across the country are also eliminating or dialing back their own DEI efforts, either out of fear of conservative backlash or to curry favor with the Donald’s administration. This backpedaling has been going on for awhile; in mid-2024, Google removed various months (Black History Month, Pride Month, etc.) from Google Calendar, claiming “maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable.” This makes no sense; Google’s a massive conglomerate with over 182,000 employees (as of 2023), and calendar files shouldn’t require much skill to create/maintain, aside maybe floating religious holidays like Easter, Ramadan, and Hanukkah.
Google, however, doesn’t have any excuse for deciding to rename the Gulf of Mexico in Google Maps to the “Gulf of America,” Trump’s jingoistic new name for the body of water that’s been called the Gulf of Mexico for centuries. Apple also renamed the gulf for Americans in Apple Maps; fortunately, MapQuest and OpenStreetMap are holdouts. I’m hoping the new name post-Trump goes the way of “Cape Kennedy”; if you don’t know what that is, that’s my point exactly.
It’s not just tech companies bending the knee to bigots, but media companies as well. Disney and even PBS have been dialing back their DEI efforts. Never mind that nothing the latter does at this point will stop Trump from cutting PBS’ funding (see: his previous term’s treatment of PBS).
Below, I look at major tech companies that either still support or have undone DEI efforts. Note things are as of this writing; given the rapidly shifting landscape, this list may quickly become outdated.
Tech companies still supporting DEI
Apple and Microsoft
The two software and operating system mainstays are still standing by DEI initiatives. I wonder if it’s related to how ingrained their software is in businesses and government, and thus can resist such pressure. Besides, what are Trump and the Heritage Foundation going to do, switch to Linux?
Pinterest stands out among the major social networks. Most social networks are either located outside the US (TikTok), owned by Zuckerberg (Facebook, Instagram) or owned by Elon Musk (Twitter). There’s also YouTube, if that counts as a social network (owned by Google). Despite Pinterest images sometimes clogging Google image searches, Pinterest is also less annoying than Facebook and Twitter at this point.
Tech companies dropping support of DEI
I’ve written about Google alternatives in a previous post. But generally, I suggest switching to third party apps and services as much as possible. The two easiest alternatives are Firefox (instead of Chrome) and a search engine like DuckDuckGo or Startpage (instead of Google Search).
Meta
See my recent post about alternatives to Facebook, Threads, and Instagram. Again, while there aren’t any good one-stop alternatives to Facebook, there are alternatives to Threads (such as Bluesky and Mastodon) and Instagram (such as a photo blog, Flickr, and Pixelfed).
Amazon
I last wrote about Amazon alternatives back in 2019, which is pretty much forever ago in tech years. That said, most of what I wrote still holds up. However, if you’re looking for DEI-friendly alternatives to Amazon for shopping, you’ll want to skip Target and Walmart, both which are also rolling back DEI plans.
GameStop
I can (almost) understand companies going the Google route and quietly rolling DEI initiatives back. But GameStop’s CEO declaring loudly on Twitter that his company’s business woes are all the fault of “woke” DEI (plus “socialism,” somehow)? He may as well hang up a sign telling Black people, LGBTQ folk, etc. to go shop somewhere else. Which is easy for me: the nearest GameStop closed several years ago.
Fortunately, there’s plenty of other places to buy video games. If you still want physical copies of games (versus going digital), a few options include:
- A locally owned store.
- A regional chain, such as Meijer in the Midwest, or Fred Meyer (no relation) in the Pacific Northwest.
- Best Buy.
Adobe
Adobe’s also announced a rollback of DEI efforts. This is on top of the other questionable stuff it’s done lately, such as integrating AI. Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives to Adobe’s products, as listed in this infographic on Bluesky.
Sources:
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto (Pexels)
What about IBM and Kyndryl? IBM had a huge DEI program for may years. (Were one of the first to say their hiring policies were not based on religion, race….and offered same sex life partners the same benefits as married couples until same sex marriage became legal in the United States..
Thanks for this post, too. I especially appreciate that you make links to sources and background info / wiki articles explaining some things that might not be true common knowledge. (I never made that connection about Cape Kennedy… but fingers crossed!)