Facebook plans to hire 10,000 people across the European Union to develop the digital structure of the famous (and mysterious) metaverse. As reported by the company itself, the metaverse is an online world, fully digital, where people can play, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using virtual reality headsets and glasses (which of course Facebook also sells). .
The metaverse concept
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been the leading voice in explaining the concept of the metaverse since the company launched the term a few months ago, in the midst of its worst reputation crisis ever, forcing it to even change its name. of the company.
The announcement of the launch of the metaverse came just as Facebook was beginning to deal with the consequences of a monumental disinformation and fake news scandal that has seriously damaged its popularity, and is facing rigorous control by the public administrations of various countries.
“The metaverse has the potential to help unlock access to new creative, social, and economic opportunities. And the Europeans will shape it from the beginning,” Facebook said in a press release posted on its social media profiles.
Jobs in Europe
The new jobs that will be created in the next five years will include “highly specialized engineers”. Investing in the EU offers many advantages, including access to a large consumer market, world-class universities and high-quality talent, Facebook noted.
The company has made building the metaverse one of its top priorities. Despite its history of buying rivals, Facebook claims the metaverse “will not be built overnight by a single company” and has promised to organize a multi-company collaboration to develop the concept.
It has recently invested more than €50 million in funding non-profit organizations to help “responsibly build the metaverse.” But Zuckerberg thinks it will take another 10 to 15 years to develop the real metaverse idea.
Some critics of this idea say that this latest announcement is solely planned to restore the company’s reputation and divert attention from its scandals over privacy violations and the spread of disinformation and fake news, after a series of very damaging scandals in which the company has been involved in recent months.
This included revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager in Facebook’s civic integrity team. An internal company investigation found that Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, was affecting the mental health of teenagers. But Facebook did not share the results of its investigations when it acknowledged that the social network was indeed a “toxic” place for many young people, harming their mental health.
