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As the promotion of the metaverse’s incredible possibilities seems to have cooled down for the past months, companies continue to invest in the “next technological transition” our world may know. From massive multiplayer online games in the 2010s to virtual tourism and replicas of entire cities in the future, the metaverse is still an emerging technology.
In this constantly evolving field currently dominated by Meta and Epic Games, every company works on a different type of metaverse. The lack of common definitions and visions on the subject doesn’t help citizens with an understanding of what metaverse is, and what are its dangers. In this “Web 4.0”, everyone, through their avatar, can do whatever he/she wants, everything seems easier and some can be tempted to break the law. Identity theft, harassment, and scams are a reality in those virtual worlds. The use of cryptocurrencies inside the virtual world also creates some issues as there is no government regulation of the transactions. Moreover, a lack of transparency raises privacy issues, as data from Metaverse’s users is retrieved by Meta, Google, and other companies.
In this jungle of technologies and companies, EU institutions are willing to act to protect citizens from the various dangers caused by metaverse’s use. Enforcing the law in the different metaverses, regulating cryptocurrency transactions, protecting users’ data, and preserving the environment represent some concerns of the Union. Unfortunately, many of the leading companies in the metaverse’s market are non-European companies, which makes it difficult for EU institutions to have a significant impact on these companies’ actions. EU now has to position itself on the international stage and guarantee the rights of European citizens through what can be qualified as hard law (regulation and legislation) or soft law (guidelines and standards). EU institutions possess tools to monitor this field’s evolution and become an important actor towards more ethical, safer, better virtual worlds. Besides, the European Union has an interest in closely following the evolutions of the metaverse, as virtual worlds have a lot of economic advantages such as job creation or new career possibilities in engineering, design, and even healthcare.
To achieve this goal, not only the already existing laws must be applied correctly, but legislative work must be done to prevent new issues. In this highly innovative field, legislation and regulation should be agile, to evolve as quickly as the market grows. For instance, to protect intellectual property in the design field, a revision of the Community Design Regulation was adopted in 2023. Now, digital products that can be found in virtual worlds are affected by design protection. The recent adoption of the AI Act, on May 21st, marks a milestone in EU’s policies and has a worldwide impact as it represents the first regulation on Artificial Intelligence. By classifying AI systems according to the risk they cause, this act aims to increase AI systems transparency and ethics. It will directly impact Web 4.0 as interactions in the metaverse mostly depend on AI. Thus, this act would then allow a safer user experience in virtual worlds. Moreover, other EU regulations are here to prevent the formation of a monopoly in the metaverse industry. EU governance may also appear through the creation of technical standards for companies to ensure the security of their products: discussion with companies has to become possible and frequent, and partnerships with international organizations that develop common standards should multiply. Discussion with citizens about what metaverse’s legislation is also essential, to understand their expectations and to warn them about the dangers within the metaverse.
The European Union’s legal work seems essential today to regulate and create standards in this complex Web 4.0 field. Some other legal issues will appear as metaverse’s usages will evolve and its popularity will increase. These issues can’t be foreseen, but European institutions must be ready to tackle them.
Sources :
law/1680ae6bce#page27
paradigms-in-ai-and-the-metaverse
directive-and-of-the-community-design-regulation
· https://www.europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/default/files/documents/Policing in the metaverse - what
law enforcement needs to know.pdf
It’s exciting to see these discussions shaping the future of our virtual interactions. Thanks for the article Adèle!