With Tampons and Code, Silicon Valley Workers Quietly Protest Tech’s Rightward Shift
The New York Times
As Mark Zuckerberg and other tech titans have embraced President Trump and muffled internal dissent at their companies, their mostly left-leaning employees have objected with subtle acts of defiance.
Quietly but unmistakably, the tampons, liners and pads reappeared in many of the men’s bathrooms at Meta’s offices.
Days earlier, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, had made a series of changes at his company, aligning with President Trump’s new administration. As part of the moves, Mr. Zuckerberg eliminated diversity initiatives in the workplace — something that Mr. Trump had criticized — and removed sanitary products from the men’s bathrooms, which had been provided for transgender and nonbinary employees who may have required them.
To protest Mr. Zuckerberg’s actions, some Meta workers soon brought their own tampons, pads and liners to the men’s bathrooms, five people with knowledge of the effort said. A group of employees also circulated a petition to save the tampons.
The sanitary products were emblematic of the quiet rebellions that Silicon Valley workers have staged as they grapple with the rightward shift of their bosses. In a major departure for a tech industry that has typically leaned left and liberal, Mr. Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, Apple chief Tim Cook and Google co-founder Sergey Brin have embraced Mr. Trump, including by appearing at his inauguration last week.
Their support for Mr. Trump has caused consternation across tech workforces, which have generally been pro-immigration and supportive of diversity and inclusion efforts. Yet rather than make loud, public protests to oppose the shift, many tech employees have instead carried out more subtle acts of defiance.
