Meta Is Adding Boundaries For Women’s Safety In Metaverse

Before its Metaverse ambitions take over, Meta (or formerly known as Facebook) has a new challenge to deal with: Harassment in the virtual world. A 43-year-old British woman recently claimed that she was molested by a group of male avatars in the virtual world. In Horizon Venues of Meta, a lady named Nina Jane Patel described being "verbally and sexually harassed" by three or four male avatars.

Meta has revealed a new feature dubbed "personal boundary" in its Horizon virtual reality platform that will restrict people from digitally harming other people in order to avoid such harassment and make the Metaverse a safe environment for everybody. A virtual barrier will be present around avatars, preventing other avatars from approaching too closely. However, you will not be able to hug your friend or anyone else in the virtual world if you stretch out your arm for a high-five.

“Personal Boundary prevents avatars from coming within a set distance of each other, creating more personal space for people and making it easier to avoid unwanted interactions," said Meta.

"It was surreal," wrote the woman who was harassed in Metaverse. Nina added in the post, "It was a nightmare." She even talked about male avatars inappropriately groping her character's body and captured screenshots for several minutes.

No one will be able to "invade your avatar's personal space" because of the Personal Boundary. When someone tries to enter your Personal Boundary, the system will stop them as soon as they approach it.

By default, this border will give the impression that your avatar and others are separated by nearly four feet. "As we learn more about how this affects people's experiences, we'll continue to improve over time," it added. "In the future, we'll study the potential of adding in further controls and UI improvements, such as enabling customers customise the size of their Personal Boundary," Meta continued.