The European Union is looking at what role regulators should play in the growing metaverse, according to a report.
A network of virtual environments accessed via different devices, the metaverse came into focus after Facebook recently changed its name to Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and started a 10,000-strong hiring programme to help build the virtual space.
That move triggered concerns about Facebook's possible dominance in the metaverse, Reuters reported.
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Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition, said: "the metaverse is here already. So of course we start analysing what will be the role for a regulator, what is the role for our legislature."
"Everything we do must be fact-based and based on the information that we can get... We need to understand it before we can decide what actions would be appropriate," Vestager told an online event organised by a group of German newspaper publishers.
The EU is already concerned about Facebook's collection and use of data and EU regulators are currently drawing up new legislation that will dictate how user data on the bloc's citizens is transferred to the US.
Meta warned in its recent earnings release that it will consider pulling Facebook and Instagram out of Europe if it is not allowed to keep transferring European users' data back to the US.
The threat fell on deaf ears, with French finance minister Bruno Le Maire telling reporters: “We would live very well without Facebook.”