Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced in October that it would make a shift into the virtual world. This shift brought change to the careers of its 68,000 employees, The New York Times reported Jan. 31.
Nine employees told The New York Times that metaverse aspirations have caused disruption inside the company as new and current employees are being told to go out for new roles. For example, higher-ups have been encouraging employees who previously worked on social networking products to apply for augmented-reality and virtual-reality roles for the metaverse, according to the report.
Employees said they were told to be positive toward innovation at the company, and if they were not, they could leave.
Other employees expressed concern that the company was moving onto a new venture without fixing the problems related to misinformation and extremism on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
A spokesperson for Meta told The New York Times that significant job cuts were not conducted and that the company's main priority is not just the metaverse.