Facebook defines its metaverse and plans to invest $50M over two years in programs and external research to “responsibly” build the “next computing platform”
It defines the metaverse and calls it the ‘next computing platform’ — Facebook has announced … Source: About Facebook .
Facebook commits $50 million over two years to programs and outside research, creating a formal channel for external participants to shape its “responsible” metaverse agenda.
The pledge gives Facebook a policy-facing rationale for its metaverse work alongside product and hardware investment, rather than presenting it solely as a new consumer platform bet.
Second-order effects
Facebook’s planned separate reporting for its AR/VR unit makes the broader metaverse investment more visible to investors, while the research program helps it argue that governance work is part of that spend.
Platforms already offering metaverse-like experiences, including Roblox, Steam VR, and VRChat, face a better-funded Meta effort to define both the technology category and its policy vocabulary.
Third-order effects
If large platform companies fund external research while building new interfaces, standards-setting and platform development may become more tightly linked, giving incumbents greater influence over the rules governing emerging computing environments.
The episode belongs to a shift from governing a single social-network interface toward governing a portfolio of immersive interfaces, where corporate structure, research partnerships, and regulatory positioning reinforce one another.
The trend: Major consumer platforms are treating immersive computing as both a product frontier and a governance arena, investing in technology while seeking influence over its emerging rules.
The metaverse isn't a single product one company can build alone. And it won't be built overnight. This gives us time to ask the difficult questions about how it should be built, and collaborate with policymakers, industry & academia to guide our work. https://about.fb.com/...
Mate, Facebook hasn't even figured out the difficult questions about Facebook, and the ones it has figured out it has answered poorly. Why would anyone believe Facebook is ready to start on any product beyond Facebook? https://twitter.com/...
Anyone who still believes Facebook does anything “responsibly” shouldn't be taken seriously. The Metaverse is all about expanding Facebook's control over us, while opening up new avenues for profit. https://twitter.com/...
I wish people would stop covering these stories. Whatever Facebook says they spend on worthy initiatives matters little if it's not done well. $50m sounds like a big number but it's a pittance compared to the size of the problem. https://www.theverge.com/...
Facebook says it will spend $50 million to “responsibly” develop a virtual world presumably devoid of all of the things it has made worse in the real world. https://www.vice.com/...
This is what a company with no Ted Lasso does. Tries to distract everyone. This is NOTHING when Apple is spending $40 billion on the products coming in the next year. https://twitter.com/...
Facebook's Nick Clegg talking “metaverse” quoting colleague “Boz” as a response to a respected journalist in a Facebook-sponsored session after global backlash and sunlight is peak Facebook and exactly what NYT reported FB wants to have happen while Sandberg and Zuckerberg hide.
“Facebook's definition of the sometimes nebulous word “metaverse.” The company describes it as “virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people” that you're not physically with, spread out over a variety of products and services” 🤔 https://twitter.com/...
Lots of people mocking this because it's Facebook, but at least they say something a lot of commentary seems to miss: “The metaverse isn't a single product... Just like the internet, the metaverse exists whether Facebook is there or not.” https://about.fb.com/...
Engaging and collaborating with experts across different fields will be critical to building an inclusive and empowering metaverse and we look forward to working with organizations in this effort https://twitter.com/...
tl;dr $50m to develop ethical VR Zoom calls. Meanwhile content labeling models will continue to flag videos of black people as being about primates. https://twitter.com/...
The metaverse won't be built overnight by a single company. Facebook will collaborate with policymakers, experts and industry partners to bring this to life: https://about.fb.com/... #TAF21
A complete and utter joke in which Facebook, after a decade of disastrously mismanaging the largest social media platform in the world, attempts to buy goodwill for its plans to expand even more dramatically for $50 million, or ~0.005% of its nearly $1 trillion valuation. https:/…
If I were responsible for fucking up the uhhhhhh real world I think maybe I'd shut up about responsibly designing a new type of society or whatever https://twitter.com/...