Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) announced that it will turn to 10,000 European Union (EU) workers to assist in the creation of its ‘metaverse’, an online virtual platform that boss Mark Zuckerberg believes is going to be the successor to the mobile internet.
After waxing lyrical about the idea back in July, this is one of the first concrete moves by the company to bring to life the concept of the metaverse, where users will be immersed in a virtual world where they play games, work, and communicate.
Facebook said today, “As we begin the journey of bringing the metaverse to life, the need for highly specialised engineers is one of Facebook’s most pressing priorities.”
The Silicon Valley company said the EU “has a number of advantages that make it a great place for tech companies to invest”, and it would work with governments across the EU to “find the right people and the right markets” to develop the metaverse.
Facebook last month confirmed a US$50mln investment in non-profit organisations to ensure metaverse technologies are "built in a way that's inclusive and empowering".
At the time of its Facebook second-quarter results, Zuckerberg said this virtual environment would allow users to “be present with people in digital spaces,” an “an embodied internet that you're inside of rather than just looking at”.
The hiring announcement comes a week before Facebook is due to report third-quarter earnings, having warned in the summer that a slowdown was likely in the second half of the year.
The new Apple iOS update was expected to exert a greater influence on targeted adverts, negatively impacting its third-quarter performance.
Since then, Facebook’s reputation has been taking hits left and right, including a whistleblower claiming that the company consistently prioritised “growth over safety”.