Part 2 - Metaverse challenges in 2023: From virtual rapes to hardware issues

A few months ago, a woman complained that her ‘avatar was gang-raped by male avatars’ in the Metaverse! It might sound surreal, but it is not. The allegation was raised by Metaverse expert-tech futurist Nina Jane Patel. She blogged that soon after entering the Metaverse, she was “verbally and sexually harassed – 3-4 male avatars, with male voices, essentially, but virtually gang-raped my avatar and took photos.”

“It was a horrible experience that happened so quickly and before I could even think about putting up the safety barrier. I froze,” she said. 

This indeed is off-putting when the whole world is gung-ho about what has been termed as the next iteration of the Internet. But we have to face it. As we are regaled with wonderful stories about the rosy prospects of the Metaverse, we should not be overlooking or underestimating the dangers lurking under its dark underbelly.

Part two of this report delves into the very real threats in the Metaverse, cybersecurity concerns, the regulatory aspects, hardware issues, and much more.

Also read:

Part 1: Crystal-gazing into the Metaverse in 2023 - Achieving scale & biz implications

The threat is real

Will ‘virtual rape’ be a serious threat the industry will need to deal with?

A November 28 report by Kaspersky (‘Consumer cyberthreats: predictions for 2023’) warns about the possibility of “avatar rape and abuse” in the Metaverse. As the Metaverse ecosystem set to grow in the coming years with the market poised to reach $50 billion by 2026, cyber criminals will be on the prowl, looking for gullible users. With no solid protection mechanisms or moderation rules in place, this “scary trend is likely to follow us into 2023”, warns Kaspersky.

According to the cybersecurity firm, the lack of regional data protection laws (General Data Protection Regulation) is one of the key reasons for the security vulnerability.

Will these threats be real and substantial? Are the industry stakeholders organised enough to address these issues?

Experts feel that given the decentralized nature of Web3 platforms, with user anonymity at the centre, strict guidelines need to be formed.

There are unfortunate elements in the Metaverse that need to be dealt with and brought under proper regulatory control, says Kaavya Prasad, Founder, Lumos Labs.

According to her, this is a difficult task given the global nature of this space and would take time during which we are under the threat of these inhumane incidents repeating themselves.

“As decentralised web works on principle of user anonymity and data protection, the Web3 platforms would need to have strict guidelines outlining the consequences of such acts which could include bringing in law enforcement to ensure proper legal actions,” she says.

Cyber crime is a serious threat to technology today and with new innovations, new rules and regulations need to be framed which can be achieved provided the leaders of the space are aware of the industry developments, opines Kaavya Prasad.

Another foolproof method, according to her, would be to have experts in place who can predict the consumer behaviour or in this case, criminal behaviour, and help secure the technology better.

“The Web3 regulatory sector is still finding its footing and the efforts of the stakeholders in the technology space are geared towards protecting their users and their experiences along with sustainable retention. Battling these malicious threats are one of the priorities of Web3, Metaverse, VR/AR, and AI sectors and should have proper clarity in the coming decade,” she adds.

The Indian context

Legal experts opine that the decentralised architecture of the technology poses challenges. In the Indian context, crimes committed in the Metaverse come under the purview of the IT Act 2000.

The vivid experiences in the Metaverse are a function of immersion psychology, representing the extent to which an individual experiences the virtual setting as the one in which they are consciously present, says Abhishek Malhotra, Managing Partner, TMT Law Practice. Accordingly, he adds, along with physiological strains such as addiction, dissociation, motion sickness and fatigue, long-term VR experiences can produce strong negative emotions that may persist after the VR experience has ended.

“The trepidation over application over data protection standards is based on the universal access provided by Metaverse, along with the use of decentralised blockchain technology for its implementation. While jurisdictions will seek to regulate agencies on principles of territorial jurisdiction, basis the location of servers, company headquarters, decentralised architecture may present a challenge for law enforcement action. Furthermore, from a user POV, enforcement of data subject rights, data security concerns, and voluminous collection and processing of user biometric information would need to be addressed, by retrofitting erstwhile legislations to the new technological background, or vide introduction of new legislations,” says Malhotra.

From an Indian POV, he says, the Information Technology Act, 2000 categorises offences for violation of privacy, identity theft, publishing, and transmission of sexually explicit, obscene material, which may be triggered for offences in the Metaverse at this stage. He expects the upcoming Digital India Act will provide further guidance in this respect.

Malhotra strongly believes that urgent regulatory intervention in the domains of cybersecurity, data privacy, intellectual property, and conduct regulation will be necessary to standardise obligations, compliances upon organisations, as well as instilling user confidence in such offerings in the coming days.

According to him, the lack of established legal framework or consequences may even enhance the probability of criminal or abusive actions.

“Regulation may be necessary from an antitrust angle as well, to ensure that Big Tech does not garner a centralised share in development of hardware and software necessary for Metaverse adoption as well. In order to aid adoption by end users, heavy investments in edge computing, data servers, cloud services, etc., would be necessary, to procure the processing capabilities for providing a seamless, interruption-free experience in the Metaverse. Furthermore, adoption rates by users will be dependent upon the costs incurred for state of the art AR/ VR technologies, functionalities offered within such an experience as well as interoperability between Metaverse ecosystems. Users will expect the same level of mobility, transferability, and ease in the virtual world as they possess in the physical experiences,” concludes Malhotra.

Dewang Mulani, Business Development, XP&DLand & Metaform, Web 3.0 Agency of Zoo Media Network, however, believes that regulatory woes won’t be an impediment to the growth of the Metaverse, let alone a roadblock. Innovative tech has historically outpaced regulations anyway, he says.

Nonetheless, he adds, concerns about data privacy and personal safety do cast a shadow of doubt and apprehension on the new Internet.

“Personally concerning for me is that data collected in the Metaverse will be behavioral in nature, in a multi-sensory environment, and potentially in a clandestine format. Makes you begrudgingly reconsider the bargain between hyper-personalisation and decentralised transparency. However, while regulatory bodies arrive with their charter, the responsibility of Web 3.0 companies and brands to construct trusted ecosystems within the Metaverse environments is untenable. These constitute building algorithms and frameworks for ensuring personal safety, discretionary privacy, and data storage permissions,” says Dewang Mulani.

Hardware issues

For the Metaverse to truly take off, the hardware challenges need to be addressed.

Rashid Khan, Co-founder and CPO, Yellow.ai, feels that Metaverse hardware is essential for mass adoption. He says that with the Metaverse adoption gaining ground across industries, it is becoming a new experimental playground for brands.

“According to Gartner, by 2026, 30% of the organisations in the world would have products and services ready for the Metaverse, up from almost a negligible percentage now. The possibilities in the Metaverse are wide-ranging, from buying and donning digital clothes for one’s avatars to opting for a virtual car test drive to attending virtual concerts. And every brand wants to leverage it to create new modes of carrying out commerce, elevating the customer experience (CX) to a whole new level,” says Khan.  

However, he adds, its true potential will only be realised when the industry takes steps towards subsidising Metaverse hardware for mass adoption.

“While we are able to interact with the Metaverse through our laptops and smartphones, we are still at a very early stage of the Metaverse hardware journey. We are certainly heading in the right direction with companies working on developing true AR glasses and highly advanced VR headsets. The ultimate goal is to develop a lightweight, comfortable device that users can wear all day and transition between AR and VR while allowing for real-world interactions with other users of the Metaverse,” explains Khan.

Kaavya Prasad also feels that advancements in hardware and software would be something to look forward to as these are apparent impediments to mass adoption of the sector.

“Additionally, as the real world increases its shift to virtual realities, the subsidisation of hardware would be focused on increasingly. With major Web2 and Web3 companies investing in the ecosystem and the competition increasing, the onus would fall on them to provide options that are reasonable for their user base and for retention,” she adds.

Concurring with Kaavya Prasad and Rashid Khan, Dewang Mulani also feels that for Metaverse interactions to scale, hardware challenges need to be addressed almost immediately.

“The onus for this is on consumer tech companies to ensure that VR wearable tech becomes affordable, accessible, and well, ‘wearable’. Apart from hardware handicaps and growing data privacy woes, a critical barrier to mass adoption is the ‘mass migration’ of communities from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 and the Metaverse. It is essential for brands and marketers to create sustainable and relatable value chains that encourage consumers to socialise, shop, transact and connect in the Metaverse; all activities are previously done on Web 2.0 platforms only. This is especially true for India where digital maturity is varied,” Mulani points out.

Sriram PH, CEO & Co-founder at DaveAI, says that we will see normalisation, which means that enterprises and brands will move beyond hype to build use cases with quantifiable ROI. He adds, “We have seen significantly wide adoption in use cases such as product launches, immersive product discovery, gamified user onboarding especially with focus on GenZ seeing traction. We have reached a place where the industry has acknowledged that there will be a transitionary phase while hardware adoption will be at scale especially for virtual reality experiences and for now the Metaverse that are hardware-agnostic and extend experiences across devices will see wider traction.”

Power of Artificial Intelligence

According to Rashid Khan, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is and will be one of the strongest forces driving the success of the Metaverse, ensuring the infrastructure’s stability while helping drive the user experience.

“And Conversational AI will be a key lever in operationalizing this. To guide their users through various use-cases of digital wayfinding, brands would need to use digital avatars powered by conversational AI and equipped with advanced capabilities to converse like humans. Conversational AI-enabled dynamic agents with multilingual and multicultural voice-first capabilities will need to become a bridge for communication between users and businesses in order for the Metaverse to succeed,” he adds.

Furthermore, he adds, a robust edge computing infrastructure will be fundamental in helping the Metaverse reach its maximum potential. “This is because the Metaverse will need to analyse vast amounts of data at extremely quick rates in order to provide users with a completely immersive experience. Only then will each user be able to see and interact with high-quality, real-time 3D visualisations. To support this, it is likely that network providers will need to roll out next-generation infrastructure, like more fibre-to-the-home. By enabling data processing closer to end users, edge computing will be able to assist in addressing this problem of scaling the Metaverse. 5G will also play a key role in enabling the uptake and scale of the Metaverse, simply because it will offer rate, range, reliability, latency, and so much more,” he adds.

The year 2023 will definitely see a lot of focused developments in these spaces, which will contribute to a wider adoption of the Metaverse. All these aspects would lead to improvements in the current user experience and journey of Metaverse platforms. At the same time, Metaverse definitions are widely disputed, so it’s not surprising that users are confused, but that’s where the opportunity for education is. There is no doubt that users are curious, but there is a need for the industry to break it down into concepts and terms that users can understand. Brands will need to establish a community, provide a clear benefit, or deliver an amazing Metaverse experience in order to succeed in this. I feel education, accessibility, and approachability will be key in driving forth the Metaverse adoption in the next few years.

Lack of clarity

What needs to be done for the Metaverse to truly take off?

There is still no clarity as to what Metaverse really is; as of now it remains a confusing venture, and remains restricted to a handful of tech-savvy bunch. It is time the industry communicates and clarifies what it is and how to participate.

Metaverse is a virtual world within which people can interact and undertake activities similar to the real world with fewer obstacles as compared to the real world, says Kaavya Prasad.

According to her, as it is still a nascent industry, an absolute unchanging definition is not possible and we can only predict the extent of its innovative capabilities. Yet, she adds, as is the case with technology, one idea is enough to push the limit a bit further. And in the current environment, where there are multiple opportunities for creators, we can just watch as frequent innovations come out of this sector and get on the bandwagon sooner than later, she points out.

“Having said that, there can always be efforts from within the sector to increase the awareness, knowledge, and utility among non-native folks. The web3 sector has been especially active in this area where there are open resources, sessions, knowledge-sharing initiatives, and constant push by experts to augment its understanding. Through our Lumos Metaverse, we are also focused on increasing awareness and providing resources for developers to learn about futuristic technologies such as web3, Metaverse , defi, virtual realities, etc. The Web3 Metaverse is gaining momentum with major web3-based platforms such as Decentraland, Sandbox, etc., that provide multiple sources to learn and explore. And, with leading brands announcing their large investments in the sector, initiatives from their end to increase awareness and impart knowledge to their users would be a big push to the sector as well,” she explains.

The Metaverse is touted to be the next big thing and it holds a lot of potential to become one once it addresses a few concerns that could limit its progress, says Devang Mundhra.

For example, Mundhra adds, the Metaverse has colossal potential and can create a decentralised and democratic form of the internet, in which everyone could own their experience as it provides the opportunity to build a real-life experience by being virtually present through the integration of NFTs. “However, the problem is that none of this potential can be realised if Metaverse continues as it is today, that is limited to an audience of tech-savvy gamers and not a decentralised immersive virtual world that is created along user-friendly lines. Moreover, the Metaverse requires it to be community-modifiable, so that everyone can interact with the virtual world and be in control of those changes,” he adds.

Sriram PH feels that for the Metaverse to truly take off like any economic proposition, the supply and demand side has to align. He points out that currently, this is an early technology trend where some use cases have seen validation, some have failed, and others are unsure.

“Since this is a new technology layer, there are multiple definitions. There is no one worldview which is true to any new trend. It may be construed to be confusing when you look at it from the outside, but actually it is pretty simple; this is the next version of the internet that is immersive and shared. Everything else that causes confusion are layers that enable this experience and thus we may see various versions. Some could be aligned with AR/VR, some with gaming, some with social experiences, and some with Web3; but the broader world where all of this is possible would be the Metaverse,” he explains.

Metaverse represents the evolving internet, no doubt, but the success of this construct greatly depends on the adoption of this tech by mass communities, concludes Dewang Mulani.