South Korea and Meta to ramp up metaverse safety

South Korea’s official media regulation agency met with Andy O’Connell, vice president of product policy and strategy of Meta Platforms, Inc. on Monday to discuss ways to boost user protection on the metaverse.

See related article: South Korea will not rule the metaverse with game laws, science ministry says

Fast facts

• Ahn Hyoung-hwan, the vice chairman of Korea Communications Commission (KCC), asked O’Connell and Meta (formerly known as Facebook Inc.) to cooperate on safety in nascent virtual platforms such as the metaverse, according to local media reports.

• Ahn and O’Connell also discussed transparency in algorithms behind digital platforms and preventing the circulation of illegal information.

• Meta operates Horizon Worlds, a metaverse platform supported by virtual reality (VR) technology, available for users in North America and parts of Europe.

• There have been reports of users experiencing sexual assault on Horizon Worlds, which has prompted Meta to adopt a personal boundary system which sets a four-foot distance between a user’s avatar and others with the exception of designated friends.

• South Korea is also battling the presence of sexual predators on the metaverse — the Korea Communications Commission has launched a council earlier this year to prohibit such behavior.

See related article: S.Korean man sentenced to four years for sexual abuse in metaverse

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