404 Media reports that media company Ziff Davis, the owners of IGN, CNET, Eurogamer, Lifehacker, PCMag and more, has scrubbed many mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from its website.
According to 404's report, in January, the DEI section of Ziff's website contained the following paragraph:
Ziff Davis is proud to offer Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), voluntary employee-led groups mentored by executive sponsors and overseen by our Global DEI and HR Programs team. They represent seven identity groups: Asian, Black, 2SLGBTQIA+, Latinx/Hispanic, family of all kinds, women and gender minorities, and interfaith.
Now, in February, that text has been removed, and replaced with:
All employees are welcome to create or join Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which are voluntary employee-led groups mentored by executive sponsors.
Other sections, like employee training pages mentioning "Diversity and Inclusion”, have also been edited to delete certain wording, while whole pages, like those discussing executive salary bonuses tied to diversity accomplishments, "have been removed from the website entirely", according to 404.
While these appear to have had little effect on the company's internal operations--staff speaking to 404 say nothing has changed in terms of the ERGs or internal messaging about diversity--it's still a chilling sight to see a media company, one that employs an international workforce of diverse people, making such a clearly submissive gesture to an increasingly authoritarian government that, with a hatred of the media as one of its core tenets, will not give half a shit about gestures.
You can see detailed examples of the changes at 404, where you should also subscribe so you can read more of their excellent work.
