Does your avatar have the same rights and legal protection in the metaverse as you do?
Virtual worlds are built to mirror the physical world. You can attend concerts, go to casinos, meet a friend for coffee, and even hang out in a lounge sponsored by your bank. When it comes to regulation, however, rather than mirroring the laws of the real world, these digital spaces are governed by codes and service agreements, leaving some to wonder if that's enough.
While regulators struggle to understand what their jurisdiction might look like in the metaverse and how existing laws apply to digital assets, properties, data and privacy, civil and criminal laws that apply to interpersonal interactions are often not considered.
Jenn Senasie is a co-host on CoinDesk's "The Hash," a daily news show highlighting the latest developments in technology, cryptocurrencies and finance. This article is part of "Metaverse Week."
This is even more important considering that the Metaverse is expected to become an important part of our future interactions. Regulators will grapple with this issue as the metaverse gains momentum and as real people suffer real consequences and injuries in these virtual spaces.
And the harms are real:
"Within 60 seconds of joining, I was verbally and sexually harassed," wrote Nina Jane Patel in a Medium article describing a "virtual gang rape" she experienced in meta's Horizon Venues, now part of the Horizon Worlds platform.
"When I tried to get free, they yelled, 'Don't act like you didn't like it' and 'Go rub yourself on that photo,'" the 43-year-old mother wrote, describing the experience as a surreal nightmare.
This incident was not an isolated incident. In December 2021, a Horizon Worlds beta tester reported being groped. On Horizons Worlds' official Facebook page, she wrote, "Not only was I groped last night, but there were other people there supporting this behavior, so I felt isolated in the plaza.
If human interaction in the real world has taught us anything, it's that we can expect more stories like this. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center, a U.S. nonprofit, found that 81% of women and 43% of men have reported experiencing some form of sexual violence or assault in their lifetime.
So what happens when you are sexually assaulted in the metaverse?
In the case of Patel and the beta user, Meta has introduced a solution called Personal Boundary for Horizon Worlds. The feature, announced in a blog post, prevents others from invading the avatar's personal space, making it easier to avoid unwanted interactions."
Solutions like these come with their own challenges. Meta's published personal boundary feature remains enabled by default for "non-friends," and users can customize their personal boundary settings as they see fit. But what happens if a user turns off their boundaries and becomes sexually assaultive? Is that the user's fault? What happens if a person isn't tech-savvy enough to navigate the settings? This strikes me as the virtual version of claiming a woman was assaulted because her clothing was too revealing.
At what point is the person behind an avatar legally responsible for their own actions?
The U.S. Code defines rape as a sexual act upon another person by:
While avatars cannot suffer "serious physical harm," humans can suffer psychological harm. Although people can recover damages for psychological harm, this is not yet explicitly mentioned in the legal definition above, nor is it clear how the Metaverse conveys psychological harm.
A new definition?
Patel described her experience as so horrible that she could not think, she could not set up the safety barrier, she just froze. It was only after this experience that Meta created the safety barrier, which is activated by default.
Those who experience this kind of harm in virtual worlds often feel isolated, just as the Horizon Worlds beta user wrote in her Facebook post.
The Metaverse is not the first case of virtual assault and harassment leading to feelings of isolation and helplessness. Social media has created a world where we are used to interacting with each other behind screens, making harassment easier.
With the rise of social media, cyberbullying and cyberattacks also increased, but there were no specific cyber laws for interpersonal harm.
In 2013, 17-year-old Canadian high school student Rehtaeh Parsons committed suicide, leaving her community in shock. Parsons struggled with mental health issues after photos of her alleged gang rape surfaced on the Internet.
The Nova Scotia government passed the Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act to "deter, prevent and respond to the harm of non-consensual sharing of intimate images and cyber-bullying."
In this situation, the law was reactive. Could Parsons' life have been saved if the legal system had kept up with technology?
Lawmakers have the opportunity to learn from the past and be proactive when it comes to user interaction in the metaverse. If avatars represent real-world people, real-world safeguards should also be put in place to protect the psychological safety of all people.
It is naive to think that the darkest sides of the real world will not be reflected in the virtual world. The implications are bigger than just a violation of a company's terms of service, and it's not clear that by enabling novel experiences, companies or platforms will bear the legal burden if something goes wrong.
If you access the Metaverse from home, you could be putting yourself in one of the most unsafe situations you've ever experienced. How's that for meta?
More from Metaverse Week:
A Crypto Guide to the Metaverse.
Verifiable, immutable ownership of digital assets and currencies will be a key component of the Metaverse.
Why is South Korea throwing money at the Metaverse?
South Korea's "Digital New Deal" is flooding the country's tech industry with billions of dollars in stimulus money in hopes of creating 2 million new jobs.
What can you actually do in the metaverse in 2022?
The future possibilities of the metaverse are probably limitless, but is there anything you can do in the metaverse right now?