Meta bans its employees from discussing this topic at work

San Francisco: Meta (formerly Facebook) on Thursday banned its employees from talking about abortion in the workplace, citing "an increased risk" that the company is seen as a "hostile work environment."

According to a report in The Verge, the policy, which Meta put in place in 2019 but hasn't been reported until now, prohibits employees from discussing "opinions or debates about abortion being right or wrong, availability or rights of abortion, and political, religious, and humanitarian views on the topic."

Janelle Gale, Meta's VP of HR, reportedly told employees at a meeting that abortion was "the most divisive and reported topic" by employees in Workplace.

Employees slammed the move, saying the policy is at odds with other policies at the company that allow discussion on 'Black Lives Matter', immigration, and trans rights.

Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Meta, called abortion "one of our most fundamental rights".

"Every woman, no matter where she lives, must be free to choose whether and when she becomes a mother. Few things are more important to women's health and equality," she wrote on her Facebook page recently.

However, one of Meta's most senior executives, Naomi Gleit, wrote in an internal post that "At work, there are many sensitivities around this topic, which makes it difficult to discuss on Workplace".

She said that employees were only allowed to discuss abortion at work "with a trusted colleague in a private setting (e.g. live, chat, etc.)" and in a "listening session with a small group of up to 5 like-minded people to show solidarity".

The policy banning discussion of abortion has caused division among the Meta employees, the report noted.