FCC Chair Brendan Carr is letting ISPs merge–as long as they end DEI programs

Corporate DEI Reversals and Motives

• Many commenters see the rapid rollback of DEI/ESG as proof these initiatives were mostly branding, quickly abandoned once political and market winds shifted.
• Others tie the about-face to the labor market: when tech workers were scarce and powerful, companies invested in social initiatives to attract/retain talent; with power shifting back to employers, those programs are now expendable.
• There’s some respect for firms that publicly stick with DEI, but also cynicism that even pro‑DEI CEOs may just be doing PR.

What DEI Looks Like in Practice

• Experiences diverge sharply: some describe DEI as training, bias awareness, broader recruiting, accommodations, and employee resource networks without quotas or penalties.
• Others report explicit race/gender preferences: managers told not to hire non‑minorities, headcount reserved for women, bonuses tied to demographic ratios, and Asians/Indian men labeled “negative diversity.”
• Several note DEI often ignores age and disability.

Is DEI Discriminatory or Corrective?

• One camp: DEI is positive discrimination—unfair to some individuals but justified to offset systemic bias and expand opportunity for underrepresented groups, aiming at long‑term equity.
• Opposing camp: DEI is racially and sexually discriminatory, driven by ideological hostility to “privileged” groups; claimed benefits are unproven or oversold.
• There’s debate over the evidence: some cite studies showing bias against women is overstated or reversed; others insist broader research and lived experience show strong bias against Black and Hispanic candidates.
• Some argue anonymized hiring and process reform are the “honest” version of DEI; others say without some preferential boost, underlying structural gaps won’t close.

Culture War, Doublethink, and Language

• “DEI discrimination” and similar constructions are likened by some to Orwellian doublespeak; others counter that opposing concepts can coexist in law without being “doublethink.”
• DEI is described by some as a political dog whistle—coded support for quotas—while others say anti‑DEI rhetoric itself weaponizes fear that “they’re taking your jobs.”

FCC Power, Trump, and Institutional Capture

• Strong concern that tying merger approvals to ending DEI is a misuse of an independent regulator, turning a competition/consumer‑protection decision into a culture‑war tool.
• Several see the FCC leadership as openly partisan, pledging to do whatever the administration wants and threatening unfriendly media outlets.
• This is framed as part of a broader pattern of “weaponizing” U.S. institutions and operating like a patronage/mafia system: loyalty on ideological issues in exchange for regulatory favors.

Telecom Consolidation and Consumer Impact

• Commenters list ongoing and potential mergers (Verizon/Frontier, Charter/Cox, others), seeing a drift toward a small oligopoly of national ISPs.
• Concern: the same enlarged firms gaining market power will now be less constrained by either DEI expectations or robust oversight, leaving all customers—of any background—exposed to higher prices and worse service.