Facebook Whistleblower Warns Of Dangers Posed By Metaverse

Last year, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen released thousands of documents revealing that the social media giant knew its products could be harmful to users. The disclosures set off a firestorm of controversy that Facebook is still dealing with today. And now, Haugen has set her sights on another of the company’s offerings: it’s so-called “metaverse” virtual reality experience. According to Haugen, this new platform poses a host of serious privacy problems that the company hasn’t addressed.

“[Facebook has] made very grandiose promises about how there’s safety-by-design in the metaverse,” Haugen told Politico. “But if they don’t commit to transparency and access and other accountability measures, I can imagine just seeing a repeat of all the harms you currently see on Facebook.”

According to Haugen, the metaverse will require many sensors to gather information about a user’s environment. That means Facebook will have microphones, cameras and more in our homes. And then, in her words, “we just have to trust the company to do the right thing.” Facebook itself is aware of these concerns, and has invested tens of millions of dollars into strengthening the metaverse’s security. However, no amount of safeguards can solve the fact that the platform itself may be antithetical to privacy.




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