Users of Meta's virtual reality platform are being sexually harassed and even raped, as the platform has barely made it to the public.
The user wrote that being in virtual reality adds another layer to sexual harassment, as reported by The Verge. I was groped last night and there were other people who supported it.
In an interview with The Verge, the VP of Meta called the situation unfortunate.
The Safe Zone feature is trivially easy and findable, and that is what I want to make it.
Meta is hoping to make the problem go away by making adjustments to its tools, rather than ensuring that the culture of strangers touching each other in virtual reality doesn't foster it. Users can turn on a feature called "Safe Zone" which creates an impenetrable bubble around them when they want more space.
Personal space is likely to be a problem for social VR applications.
According to Jesse Fox, an associate professor at Ohio State University, sexual harassment has never had to be physical. It can be verbal and virtual as well.
Parmy was not impressed by Meta's virtual reality experience. She was surrounded by a group of men who were taking pictures of her in the virtual reality lobby of the venue.
One by one, they handed the photos to me. I felt like a specimen during the experience.
Children screeching into their microphones constantly disrupted her conversations with other users, despite the fact that the platform is only available to US or Canadian users who are above 18.
Meta seems to continue themes of controversy from Facebook's history with its approach. It is shifting some of the responsibility to its users by giving them tools like Safe Zone, as well as assigning moderators to each virtual reality space.
Meta will continue to improve their interface and understand how people use their tools so that users can report things easily and reliably, according to a spokeswoman. Our goal is to make the world a safer place.
Will the changes tackle the underlying issues of unwanted advances and harassment? It has been proven that Facebook cannot protect its users on its existing platforms.
That doesn't bode well for the Metaverse.
The metaverse has a problem.
Meta: How to Talk to your family about the Metaverse has more information.
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