EU's Vestager says scrutiny of
competition in metaverse already needed
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[March 03, 2023]
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The metaverse, shared virtual worlds accessible
via the Internet, is the next digital market to attract regulatory
scrutiny, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday. |
European Commission Vice President Margrethe
Vestager speaks during an interview with Reuters in Brussels, Belgium,
March 28, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna?Geron |
The
metaverse has come into sharper focus since Facebook changed its
name to Meta Platforms two years ago to reflect its bet on the
new sector as the successor to the mobile internet.
That move has in turn triggered concerns about Meta's possible
dominance. Alphabet's Google and Microsoft are also active in
generative artificial intelligence that the industry sees as the
new bright spot.
"It's already time for us to start asking what healthy
competition would look like in the metaverse," Vestager said a
conference organised by Keystone Strategy.
Vestager asked whether it would change the equation when there
are competing digital realities and language AI models like
ChatGPT.
"Do we need to do more on something new? And obviously we have
started that work," she said.
She said regulatory scrutiny of digital markets has been
escalating worldwide in the last three years.
"And there's a much wider political debate that digital markets
need careful attention. I think all jurisdictions are moving
forward in one form or another," Vestager said.
She said some antitrust enforcers were more advanced than
others.
"We are moving at different speeds. We will not get the same
legal framework. And maybe that is not a bad thing. Because that
will allow us to hone our toolkits in the process of mutual
learning," Vestager said.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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