A Meta employee slammed internal rules that ban staff from discussing controversial topics at work, calling them 'toxic'

• A Meta staffer criticized the company's new rules on internal communication.
• Meta staff are banned from discussing some topics like abortion and gun rights at work.
• The employee was investigated for sharing a letter saying the firm censors pro-Palestinian views.

A Meta employee described the company's new internal communications policies that ban the discussion of certain sensitive topics at work as "toxic" after accusing the firm of censoring pro-Palestinian views on its platforms and internally among staff. 

The NYC-based employee, who has worked at Meta since 2021, per her LinkedIn profile, previously said she was investigated in December for circulating a letter internally that raised awareness about the company's censorship of discussions about Palestine. 

In an Instagram video posted in January, she said: "Internally we have been trying to raise these concerns and alarms but there is a rule that you cannot talk about disruptive topics, so anything we post about in regards to Palestine gets taken down." 

According to the video, her letter was flagged for violating company rules and was later deleted. She was then placed under investigation and lost access to internal systems.

Meta changed its policies on internal communications in late 2022, introducing a set of rules — known as Community Engagement Expectations — to limit staff from discussing certain topics at work.

Some off-limit topics included abortion, gun rights, the effectiveness of vaccines, and political issues.

In an Instagram post on Monday, the employee said she was told that she had "repeatedly violated" these guidelines and that Meta was investigating "concerns about the alleged inappropriate use of our systems to disseminate the open letter."

She explained that although the letter received nearly 500 signatures, Meta leadership "deleted the letter," including copies of it, and "ignored it, and never addressed it again."

She added: "@meta, please stop internally censoring employees and get rid of the toxic CEE," referring to the company's new workplace discussion rules.

A spokesperson for Meta said the company does not comment on internal personnel matters but said that these new rules are in place "to ensure that internal discussions remain healthy and productive."

"This comes with the trade-off that we'll no longer allow for every type of expression at work, but we think this is the right thing to do for the long-term health of our internal community," they said.