Meta employees proposed marketing its $399 virtual-reality headsets to people who will get student debt relief, a report says

• Meta workers considered advertising VR headsets to federal student debt relief recipients.
• Three employees said the ad proposal could boost sales by 20%, The New York Times reported.

Employees at Meta suggested advertising the company's virtual reality headsets to recipients of student loan forgiveness as Facebook's parent company struggled to spur interest in its metaverse, The New York Times reported.

"This is an opportunity for Meta Quest growth, as there is evidence that past Federal Stimulus spurred growth," said the proposal, which was led by three workers read, according to the Times.

The employees suggested that marketing the headsets to people who will receive the Biden Administration's student debt relief could give sales a 20% boost, the publication said, citing past and current employees who preferred to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak about internal issues.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

The Times reported that it did not look like Meta had implemented the idea. A spokesperson for Meta didn't respond to Insider's request for comment on the proposal.

But a spokesperson told the Times about the company's shift to the metaverse, more broadly: "Being a cynic about new and innovative technology is easy. Actually building it is a lot harder — but that's what we're doing because we believe the metaverse is the future of computing."

After President Joe Biden announced federal student loan recipients could receive between $10,000 to $20,000 in debt relief in August, the GOP argued the effort could significantly boost consumer spending and inflation as a result. Though, Goldman Sachs economists Joseph Briggs and Alec Phillips said at the time that the debt relief will only have a small effect on lifting borrowers' overall spending.

Meta's latest VR headset, Quest 2, is one of the most popular headsets available. Prices for the device start at $399, according to the company's website. Facebook's parent company is expected to unveil a new VR headset on Tuesday. Last month, an online user posted a video of what appeared to be the new Quest Pro headset.

Despite interest in the headsets, the company has faced headwinds over Mark Zuckerberg's plans to pivot to a metaverse-focused company. Meta's stock price has fallen around 60% since he changed the company's name to Meta and unveiled his plans to focus on virtual reality projects last October. In August, people on social media mocked the Facebook founder after he released a picture of his metaverse avatar and indie singer Grimes called Zuckerberg "under-qualified" to launch the metaverse.

What's more, even some Meta employees appear disillusioned with Zuckerberg's plans. The Times reported that some employees had begun calling metaverse projects "make Mark Happy." Last week, The Verge reported that internal memos from the company show even employees aren't interested in using Meta's metaverse app, Horizon Worlds.

Meanwhile, Insider's Kali Hays previously reported Meta was conducting "quiet layoffs" that could impact as much as 15% of the company's workforce.

Read the full story on The New York Times' website.

Do you work for Meta or have insight to share? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email at gkay@insider.com