Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week set the cat among the pigeons by saying he thought the corporate world had become “culturally neutered” and needed “masculine energy” to fire up. He made these comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast soon after taking drastic steps that indicated Meta’s sharp turn towards the right. Earlier, Zuckerberg announced Meta was going to bury fact-checking and DEI initiatives ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

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“I do think a lot of our society has become…kind of like neutered, or like emasculated,” Zuckerberg said. “When you are running a company, people don’t want to see you being like this ruthless person.”

Comments spark outrage

Zuckerberg’s comments didn’t go down well with professionals and techies, who were quick to condemn the META CEO’s newfound chauvinism.

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Mark Lemley, an attorney who earlier represented Meta in a lawsuit concerning the alleged use of copyright texts for training artificial intelligence, said he was dropping the company as a client following what he called “Facebook’s descent into toxic masculinity and Neo-Nazi madness.”

The Stanford Law School professor’s name was later removed from Meta’s roster.

Though the lawyer agreed that Meta was on the right side of the copyright case, he said, “I cannot in good conscience serve as their lawyer any longer.”

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The attorney alleged that Meta was allowing “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation”.

Also read: Trump supporters press Zuckerberg to release Facebook Files as Meta steers to right

Zuckerberg’s comments also drew a sharp rebuke from Kelley Greene, a techie working in the tech industry for 15 years. “As a woman who spent 15 years working in the tech industry, I absolutely disagree,” she wrote in a hard-hitting op-ed.

“During my career, as I walked past ping-pong tables and kegerators, shrugged off inappropriate jokes, got asked to take notes in meetings, and had my ideas dismissed, I never once felt a lack of masculine energy,” the techie quipped.

“Tech has always been a boys’ club,” she added.

Reactions on social media

On social media too, people went all guns blazing after Zuckerberg.

Also read: Why is Mark Zuckerberg firing employees in Meta ahead of FY2025?

“Perfect example of someone changing their opinion as soon as the government changes,” wrote one user.

“Bro watching too much Andrew Tate,” another added.

“This dude is panicking. I don’t believe a thing he’s saying for a second,” a third added.