Former Meta employee warns of privacy risks in the metaverse

The former Meta employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen has warned that Meta’s abuses could spill over into the metaverse. Politico reports.

In October 2021, the former product manager said that Meta sought to boost audience engagement through specific algorithm settings. In particular, the platform spread misinformation, incited hatred and ethnic violence.

Haugen did not rule out that such policies could be adapted to the metaverse.

«If they do not commit to transparency, access, and other accountability measures […], we will see the same harm that is observed on Facebook,» she said.

The report notes that for the metaverse to function fully, beyond the 3D headset, sensors and microphones would need to be installed in homes, offices and possibly in public spaces.

This would be necessary to collect vast amounts of data in creating avatars.

If Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse vision comes to fruition, we will be wearing gloves equipped with sensors that track every movement of the body, Politico warned.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that real-time collection of personal data in this manner would turn current state surveillance into “child’s play.”

To allay such concerns, Meta has earmarked $50 million to study privacy, security and responsible design.

For Haugen, these steps are unconvincing. The whistleblower believes that in Meta’s metaverses too the company will do all it can to build a detailed picture of users, disregarding privacy concerns.

Privacy regulation in metaverses is early in its development — many talk about processing standards and limits on the collection of personal data. At the same time, details, as well as the notions of the digital world, remain blurred, the journalists concluded.

Meta began testing monetisation in the Horizon Worlds metaverse.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the company considers the possibility of creating centralized tokens for its own metaverse.

In April 2022, analysts at the world’s largest international bank Citibank in a new report forecast the growth of the metaverse economy to $13 trillion by 2030.

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