Frances Haugen, a well-known Facebook whistleblower, has now turned her attention to the Metaverse. In a recent interview, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen aims Meta, claiming that their version of the Metaverse would merely replicate all its previous errors.
Haugen said in an interview: “They’ve made a lot of big claims about how the Metaverse is secure by design.”
But if they don’t commit to openness, access, and other accountability measures, I’m afraid we’ll see a replay of all the problems we’re witnessing now on Facebook.”
In 2021, Haugen sent the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and The Wall Street Journal hundreds of internal Facebook documents. Her time working for the firm has left her concerned about privacy issues and allowing the company to collect data on every facet of a user’s Metaverse activities.
Metaverse Losing Trust
According to a recent poll, 70% of users do not trust Meta to protect their privacy appropriately. Andy Yen, CEO of encrypted email provider ProtonMail, is likewise concerned about massive internet behemoths like Meta wielding unilateral authority. In an interview last week, he stated that his firm, Proton, will only be able to exist due to the goodwill of internet behemoths.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a non-profit organization that protects civil freedoms online. It says that virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, and other wearables will make data collecting and monitoring easier than ever before.
The EFF is afraid that data collected and exploited for targeted advertising would result in “biometric psychography”. Third parties might monetize the data once it has been collected, even without our knowledge or consent. While the Metaverse may appear to be a faraway concern, Chinese residents are experiencing it daily in a unique way.
In China, WeChat is the most popular social networking site. It boasts a staggering user base of over a billion people. Eight hundred fifty millions of them are active users. The app is accumulating data on Chinese users on a never-before-seen scale. Furthermore, the Chinese government has access to every word, image, and video on the device.
