Metaverse Devs & Users: Government Regulation is Coming Soon

In the weeks since my interview in The Atlantic, officials/staffers with at least two major world power governments have reached out to me, asking for advice as to how they might regulate metaverse platforms. I won't name them specifically, beyond saying that they're from member nations of the EU/NATO, and that this is in addition to the EU Commission looking into metaverse regulation announced recently.

In fact, I just had a very off-the-record chat with one of these government research groups yesterday, and was impressed by the level of knowledge they already had about metaverse platforms and their underlying technology, most especially VR headsets.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying: Government regulation is coming. So if you're a metaverse developer -- or for that matter, create and sell content on metaverse platforms -- you should anticipate that legislation directly targeting you will soon be up for serious consideration. 

And unlike with social media platforms and the Internet giants of the last decade, which gained unsustainable reach and power long before governments could catch up, metaverse regulators have something of a head start.

This shouldn't be too much of a surprise, when (for example) 40% of United States Congress members are Gen X or Gen Y -- i.e., people who grew up with games and online virtual worlds, and are often personal users of them.  (As just one notable example, AOC is not only a gamer but uses platforms like Twitch as part of her political outreach.)

What kind of regulation should we expect? If a metaverse developer asked me that, I'd be tempted to say, "C'mon, you should already know what they're concerned about."

That aside, here's at least some of the topics I'm pretty sure (or know for a fact) that government bodies are looking into now, framed in terms of five starting questions*:

• Are metaverse companies doing everything possible to prevent harassment of its users, especially women and vulnerable minorities?
• Are metaverse platforms predominantly used by children fully informing these children's parents about all the risks and costs involved with creating and selling content for a for-profit company, and interacting with other users, especially adults who might be predators and other bad actors?
• Speaking of content creation, should metaverse platforms officially allow users to form labor/safety unions, so that they may collectively bargain with companies for a fair revenue share, not to mention having a say on the use of their personal data?
• Are blockchain-based metaverse platforms accurately communicating all the risks involved with NFTs and virtual real estate speculation?
• Should the government impose restrictions on VR headset manufacturers to protect user privacy and data?

And those are just some starting points. For anyone working on metaverse platforms, my serious advice is: Start formulating good answers to those questions now.

Or you could always wait for, say, Congress to subpoena your CEO so that they can try to answer them, while looking up at the flinty glare of AOC. 

*Spoiler answers: No, No, Yes, No, Yes.

Image: Virtual White House in Second Life.

Comments

[sirhc desantis]

Going to be dull here and agree with your 'spoiler answers'
Only minor question is about companies 'allowing' user associations. Not sure how that would work when they can just pull the plug - collectively, as it were.

[Iggy 1.0]

Users, unionizing? That's the precedent for THAT?

Employees? That I could see. I.T. workers often work in conditions no one in my old AFL/CIO Local would tolerate.

But why users? They are customers and not part of any H.R. Regs that a company may (or may not) have.

It's only a matter of time, however, before regulations appear for all platforms. We've seen it recently for landowners in SL.

2021 was the first tax-year that eBay and PayPal sent me 1099s for my US taxes. The bill was hefty as I'm a very active eBay seller.

[Joey1058]

@Iggy: People need to think "guilds". Actual unions will effectively choke any practical negotiation power, and if the trational membership structure is applied, not many will want to join a union. I, personally, would much rather be part of a guild where everyone has direct input.

[irihapeti]

consumer unions are a thing. Collective organisations funded by their members to advocate for changes to goods, services, use licenses and legislation

for example, right-to-repair stuff that we have bought. When companies refuse to acknowledge this then consumer unions advocate for legislative change

another example: Automobile Association, a collective union of automobile owners. Such associations can and do have enormous sway over the automobile industry, road networks and legislation

when they get big enough in terms of membership, consumer unions can also branch out into bulk buying goods and services for their members. Which also can have a profound impact on the industry in which the union operates