Feb 25 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) shareholders rejected

a proposal against its diversity, equity and inclusion policies

at an investor meeting on Tuesday, a major victory for the tech

giant amid growing backlash against such initiatives in the

United States.

The vote was a test of investor views about the value of DEI

programs, which many companies added or beefed up starting in

2020 amid the Black Lives Matter movement.

Growing conservative pushback has led several large U.S.

companies, including Meta, Alphabet and Amazon.com, to drop

their DEI goals before and after Donald Trump's return to the

U.S. presidency.

Apple ( AAPL ) shareholders also voted against an investor proposal

asking the company to prepare assessing the risks of its work

with artificial intelligence, while all management proposals

were approved, a preliminary tally of the vote count showed.