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The metaverse is not above real-world law
The metaverse is neither new nor lawless. As technology evolves, the challenge is to understand how law can work in different layers to regulate different aspects of an online experience.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fencing in the metaverse with an Olympic gold medal fencer.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Alexander Woon
Facebook recently rebranded itself as Meta and announced that it will pivot towards dominating the metaverse, a shared virtual world. The pitch is that the metaverse is like the American Old West: virgin territory, unregulated and unexplored, ready to be exploited by the brave and the bold.
This portrayal is just as misleading and romanticised as a John Wayne movie. The metaverse is not a new idea and it does not need to be unregulated. The claims that law needs to change fundamentally to adapt to the metaverse are misguided and belie a misunderstanding of what law is and how it works.
