Facebook plans to hire 10,000 people in the EU to work on the metaverse

In order to construct a so-called metaverse, Facebook plans to hire 10,000 individuals in the European Union.

A metaverse is a virtual world in which people can use virtual reality headsets to play games, work, and interact.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, has been a strong proponent of the idea. The announcement comes as Facebook struggles to recover from a catastrophic scandal and faces rising calls for regulation to limit its power.

“The metaverse has the ability to expand our creative, social, and economic horizons. Facebook declared in a blog post that “it will be shaped by Europeans from the beginning.”

During the next five years, “highly specialised engineers” will be among the new occupations created. Facebook claims that investing in the EU has many advantages, including access to a large consumer market, world-class colleges, and high-quality talent. The construction of the metaverse is one of Facebook’s main goals.

Despite a history of acquiring competitors, Facebook maintains that the metaverse “will not be developed overnight by a single corporation” and has pledged to collaborate.

It recently funded $50 million (£36.3 million) in non-profit organisations to assist in responsibly building the metaverse. However, it believes that the actual metaverse concept will take another 10 to 15 years to develop.

Some opponents believe the company’s current announcement is intended to repair its reputation and shift attention away from a slew of devastating controversies in recent months.

Whistleblower Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager on Facebook’s civic integrity team, revealed some of this. According to Facebook’s internal research, Instagram, which it owns, has a negative impact on youngsters’ mental health. When it was indicated that Facebook was a “toxic” site for many teenagers, Facebook did not reveal its findings.