U.S. State Attorneys General pressure Meta to reject EU sustainability laws

Sixteen U.S. State Attorneys General sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg in October of last year, urging Meta Platforms to reject the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Framing the EU rules as “unlawful in America” and “corrosive reporting and compliance directives,” the signatories warn of potential legal consequences if Meta continues to align with European sustainability and due-diligence requirements.

Commenting on the letter, Professor at Copenhagen Business School Andreas Rasche criticised both its tone and its substance, describing it as an overt attempt to bully a European legislative framework that was democratically adopted and legally binding within the EU. In his view, the letter reflects a broader disregard for Europe’s institutions and regulatory sovereignty – and, paradoxically, reinforces why such frameworks exist in the first place.

“If anything, this letter makes me proud to be European,” Andreas wrote.

The letter

Below is the full text of the letter sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg by 16 U.S. State Attorneys General, dated 6 October 2025:

October 6, 2025

Mr. Mark Zuckerberg

Chief Executive Officer

Meta Platforms

1 Hacker Way

Menlo Park, CA 94025

Re: Concerns over unlawful E.U.-imposed requirements (CSRD & CSDDD)

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:

We, the undersigned Attorneys General of 16 States, write to express our collective concerns regarding two directives being imposed on your company by the European Union (EU): the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). These directives ask American companies like yours to follow European ESG and DEI mandates that are unlawful in America. American companies must still follow American laws, no matter what European elites may think. We urge you to prioritize America and its laws over Europe and its corrosive reporting and compliance directives.

As you are aware, the EU is imposing the CSRD and the CSDDD on companies that do business in Europe, which includes your company. These directives seek to undermine the contrary policies of the Trump Administration and require compliance with the misguided policies of the Biden Administration. But such compliance is unlawful in the United States.

First, the CSRD aims to “driv[e] change in the business behavior of companies that operate in the EU” by, inter alia, requiring disclosures of financial, environmental, and social impacts “across the value chain.” Troublingly, these disclosures “are expected to be some of the most challenging … given the scope and the reliance on information from parties not controlled by the company.” Indeed, the CSRD is a product of “the European Green Deal” which is yet another “urgent call … for climate action” that seeks emissions cuts, “pushes forward a clean transition,” and seeks a “socially fair” economy.

Second, the CSDDD aims to “ensure that companies … identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions inside and outside Europe”; i.e. to ensure companies implement DEI and ESG practices. The CSDDD “establishes a corporate due diligence duty” to identify and address impacts not only in reporting companies’ own operations, but even in operations “related to their value chain(s).”

By requiring ambiguous and often unascertainable reporting requirements reliant upon independent third parties’ actions, the CSRD and CSDDD threaten to expose companies like Meta to lawsuits and government enforcement actions in the United States, such as deceptive trade practice actions. In addition, corporate alignments with the European Green Deal implicate antitrust issues. Moreover, the CSRD and CSDDD require an about-face for many U.S. companies who have reoriented their ill-begotten DEI and ESG practices under the current policies of the Trump Administration. Indeed, the CSRD and CSDDD seek to require companies to comply with the Paris Agreement and similar accords, notwithstanding the fact that President Trump has removed the United States from these agreements.

The undersigned Attorneys General, as chief law enforcement officers, have a duty to protect the citizens of our States from unlawful business practices. Restraints on competition “cannot be justified solely on the basis of social welfare concerns.” United States v. Brown University, 5 F.3d 658, 669 (3d Cir. 1993). Furthermore, as the Supreme Court has recently made abundantly clear, race-based discrimination in employment under the misleading guise of DEI is blatantly unconstitutional. See Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023). All racial discrimination, even for supposedly benign purposes, is invidious and unlawful. Id. at 206 (“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”). Race-based discrimination violates both state and federal law,and we stand prepared to carry out our duty to enforce the law.

Unfortunately, in the past, tech companies like your own have “made countless commitments” to further DEI-based initiatives. Meta has previously announced a spending spree of $1 billion with “diverse-owned suppliers each year” and to implement racial quotas for hiring and promotion. The company has previously “committed to have 50% of [its] workforce be from underrepresented communities … working to double [its] number of Black and Latinx employees,” with a goal of “30% more people of color … in leadership positions." Bowing to the unlawful CSRD and CSDDD demands would be a return by Meta to these misguided policies and a step in the wrong direction.

The DEI and ESG initiatives imposed by the CSRD and CSDDD are a burden on U.S. commerce and dampen the economy. They would cost American jobs, expose American companies to additional litigation, harm American energy development, and otherwise stoke perverse economic incentives detrimental to American industry and consumers alike. Companies like yours should not allow bureaucrats in Brussels to direct your company’s policies and operations here in America.

We urge you to immediately comply with America’s laws and the Trump Administration’s policies and disavow the DEI and ESG directives imposed by the CSRD and CSDDD. To that end, please respond to this letter within thirty (30) days explaining in detail the steps that Meta has taken to reject the EU’s anti-American-values CSRD and CSDDD directives.

Sincerely,

James Uthmeier

Attorney General

Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier