How politics and PR took over the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

sfstandard.com

Investigative article reporting current and former Chan Zuckerberg Initiative staffers' accounts on the group's political and PR shifts away from progressive aims.

How politics and PR took over the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

In the summer of 2020, Priscilla Chan faced the employees of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with tears in her eyes. Black Lives Matter protests were raging across the country, and Chan — the cofounder of CZI and wife of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — had decided to shift the focus of their biweekly all-hands meeting to address it.“It didn’t feel right to not spend the time as an organization acknowledging the — in medicine, we’d call it ‘acute on chronic’ racial disaster that is our country right now,” said Chan, a trained pediatrician, according to video of the meeting obtained by The Standard. Her voice shook as she continued: “I know there’s more progress to be made. We are not perfect. Our work is not perfect. But we stand with the Black community.”Four and a half years later, Chan was again compelled to tearily address her employees. This time, the subject was her and Zuckerberg’s attendance at Donald Trump’s second inauguration. In this meeting, according to an attendee, Chan suggested that the team stay optimistic about Trump’s presidency, that they wait and see what would happen. At one point, according to messages between CZI employees who were present, Chan’s eyes welled as she described witnessing the “peaceful transfer of power” and conveying that moment to her immigrant parents.“She completely did not acknowledge the fact that there literally was an insurrection four years before,” said one of the people present. “People were like, ‘What the ef is happening?’”The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a $6 billion behemoth in the world of philanthropy, was once seen as a largely progressive organization, championing causes like immigration and criminal justice reform and declaring its commitment to creating “a future for everyone that is more just, inclusive, and full of opportunity.”But in the months since Chan and Zuckerberg sat courtside at the U.S. Capitol, CZI has undergone sweeping changes, eliminating its internal diversity, equity, and inclusion teams, reporte

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