Metaverse is here to stay whether you like it or not
Will the Metaverse revolutionise the workplace? Who will be regulating the space? And what about data protection issues? By Laura Linkomies.
Last year, the term Metaverse starting cropping up more and more often. Metaverse is such a vast concept that it is difficult to grasp what it will entail, but it is generally thought to consist of a variety of experiences, environments and assets that exist in the virtual space. Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive of Meta, when announcing in 2021 the name change for Facebook to Meta said that Facebook would become a ‘“metaverse company”. This is by no means to suggest that Meta is the Metaverse, despite the huge financial investment that the company has made. This year, it is expected to spend $19.2 billion on the Metaverse, which is roughly 20% of its overall expenses(1). That is a huge outlay in a technology that is not ready, and as a consequence, Meta’s stock price fell at one point nearly 60 percent. The company has not been hiring as it was before, has reduced budgets and has started identifying low-performing employees(2). Zuckerberg is willing to take the risk as he believes that the Metaverse will change our lives to a similar extent that the Internet did.
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