Getting meta all the time

Damian Collins MP | Issue 4 | Comment, Magazine

From the Archive

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An extended reality world where people are more cut off from human interaction is a real cause for concern

On 28 October, Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta and staked its claim to become the company of the Metaverse.
It was the same time its global head of safety, Antigone Davis, gave evidence to the UK Parliament’s joint select committee on the Online Safety Bill, a meeting I chaired. After weeks of competition lawsuits being brought in America by the Department of Justice and state-level attorneys general, then a series of revelations about the company’s poor user safety record from the whistleblower Frances Haugen, Facebook’s announcement looked more like a PR manoeuvre than a genuine change of strategy. The launch of Meta says a lot about how Mark Zuckerberg sees the relationship between his company and its users. Meta has come to mean very self-aware or self-reflective. It derived from ancient Greek, and means “beyond”. Will the new Meta be like Facebook but more so? Given Facebook is an engagement-based advertising business that increases revenues by getting people to use its services more often and for longer, it would be safe to assume Meta is its next big play to dominate the attention economy.

Crash landing

The Metaverse Zuckerberg wants to create is an extended reality experience, developed from virtual reality concepts we have already seen, like Second Life. That means the company will essentially aim to get people to spend more valuable time in a fake world, …

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