Nick Clegg will on Monday set out the tech giant’s vision of a virtual world where you can work, shop and ‘live’. But the move is prompting new fears over privacy
![Is Facebook leading us on a journey to the metaverse?](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6e00929abb684f4627adea450cba4e532cae7d5d/0_12_5948_3570/master/5948.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdG8tZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=b6e039a434e77130bfb31fd8e278a5dc)
The concept of the “metaverse” first came from the 1992 sci-fi novel
SNOW Crash as a place that people flee to escape a dangerous corporation-dominated world. It has since come to refer to a range of virtual experiences that have gained popularity during the pandemic – including video games such as Fortnite, non-fungible tokens or even online meetings and events.
But in recent weeks the term has gained new traction – and concern over its potential ethical and societal implications – after
Mark Zuckerberg said that in five years,
Facebook would be a “metaverse company” and declared it the “successor to the mobile internet”.