Misogyny in the metaverse Graphic sexual content, abuse and grooming are rife in Meta's virtual reality dream world.Is it too late to change course?

Graphic sexual content, abuse and grooming are rife in Meta's virtual reality dream world. Is it too late to change course?→

- Laura Bates

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT YOUNG WOMEN ARE NOT SAFE. They are not safe in the street, where 86% of those in the UK aged 18 to 24 have experienced sexual harassment. They are not safe at school, where 79% of young people told the schools inspector Ofsted that sexual assault was common in their friendship groups and almost a third of 16- to 18-year-old girls report experiencing "unwanted sexual touching". They are not safe in swimming pools or parks, or at the beach. They are not safe online, with the children's safety charity the NSPCC reporting that social media sites are "failing to protect girls from harm at every stage".

This will come as no surprise to any woman who has used social media. But it is particularly relevant as Meta, the operator of some of the biggest social platforms on the internet, is busily constructing a whole new world.

The company is pumping billions of dollars a year into its metaverse, a virtual world it hopes will become the future not just of socialising, but of education, business, shopping and live events. This raises a simple question: if Meta has utterly failed to keep women and girls safe in its existing online spaces, why should we trust it with the future? Mark Zuckerberg has grandly promised: "In the metaverse, you'll be able to do almost anything you can imagine." It's the sort of promise that might sound intensely appealing to some men and terrifying to most women.

Indeed, the deeply immersive nature of the metaverse will make the harassment and abuse so many of us endure daily in text-based form on social media feel 100 times more real and will simultaneously make moderation 100 times more difficult. The result is a perfect storm. And I am speaking from experience, not idly speculating: I spent days in the metaverse researching my book, The New Age of Sexism.