Verizon is doing away with its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies amid scrutiny from the Trump administration and the federal government’s approval of a major acquisition.
Verizon sent a notice to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr Thursday notifying him of the telecom company’s overhaul to its DEI practices, months after Carr launched an investigation into Verizon’s continued promotion of DEI.
“Verizon has now agreed to end its DEI policies as specified in a new FCC filing,” Carr said on X Friday morning, sharing the letter he received from Verizon.
“These changes are effective immediately. A good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and the public interest.”
Verizon’s EVP & Chief Legal Officer Vandana Venkatesh sent Carr a letter laying out Verizon’s changes to its DEI programs in response to legal and policy changes. The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling barring race-based college admissions, and President Donald Trump’s various executive orders rolling back DEI, and other federal policies prompted Verizon to re-evaluate its DEI initiatives.
“Verizon recognizes that some DEI policies and practices could be associated with discrimination. For that reason, Verizon reaffirms its commitment to equal employment opportunity and nondiscrimination and is modifying its practices and ending its DEI-related policies as described below,” the letter reads.
Verizon told Carr it is ending its HR structure to eliminate teams and individual roles focused on DEI. It is also removing references to DEI from its training and updating corporate sponsorship policies to focus solely on business objectives.
Moreover, Verizon is removing its workforce diversity goals, making its employee resource groups open to people of all races, and eliminating supplier diversity programs. Beyond that, Verizon is removing DEI from its public messaging and opening access to its career development programs to people from all backgrounds. Verizon is going to communicate these changes to employees internally and confirm those communications to the FCC.
National Review has reached out to Verizon for comment.
Carr previously wrote a letter to Verizon in February expressing his concerns about its DEI programs given Trump’s executive orders on DEI and the FCC’s opposition to DEI under Carr’s leadership. He cited reporting from Business Insider about Verizon’s use of its support for DEI to recruit employees. In a similar fashion, Carr cited multiple court rulings and an investigation from conservative activist Christopher Rufo into left-wing “anti-racism” training at the company.
Verizon’s commitment to ending its DEI programs is paired with the FCC’s approval of its $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, a company that delivers fiber-optic internet services. Carr celebrated the deal as a win for American workers and rural America thanks to billions worth of infrastructure investment.
“The transaction will unleash billions of dollars in new infrastructure builds in communities across the country—including rural America. This investment will accelerate the transition away from old, copper line networks to modern, high-speed ones. And it delivers for America’s tower and telecom crews who do the hard, often gritty work needed to build high-speed networks,” Carr said.
Verizon is one of numerous companies to cite the changing political and legal environment in its decision to scale back its DEI commitments. Meta, McDonald’s, Walmart, Bank of America, and Target are among the large corporations to distance themselves from DEI over the past few months. The Trump administration has attempted to root out DEI from American institutions more broadly, with a focus on colleges and universities, where DEI is commonplace.