Meta is taking new steps to combat harassment in Horizon Worlds, its metaverse. The group has announced the arrival of a mode that scrambles the voices of unknown Internet users.
Meta has just announced the addition of a new feature withinHorizon Worlds, his digital world accessible in virtual reality. In a blog post published on June 13, 2022, the Californian group details the operation of a “voice mode” intended to give more control to Internet users who frequent its metaverse.
The mode “will allow you to choose how you hear people who are not on your friends list”, explains the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Concretely, it will be possible to “scramble” the voices of individuals you do not know.
Meta reacts to testimonials from two users
Meta explains that the voices will be automatically replaced “by unintelligible and friendly sounds”. According to the company, the option will allow users to feel “more comfortable or safer” while in Horizon Worlds. Note that it will also be possible to simply cut the voices and ignore the sounds offered by Meta.
Unsurprisingly, an indicator will notify nearby internet users that the user cannot hear them. To temporarily listen to a stranger without having to add him as a friend, simply raise your hand using a joystick motion detection. The option will then be disabled. Meta specifies that the mode will be deployed “in the coming weeks”.
This announcement follows testimonies attesting that sexual assault took place in the metaverse. At the end of May, the American NGO SumOfUs has indeed unveiled the testimony of a researcher who was virtually raped. An hour after logging in, the avatar of the young woman was attacked by two Internet users in a private space.
“A SumOfUs researcher was led into a private room at a party where she was raped by a user who asked her to turn around so he could do it from behind while users outside the window were watching,” the SumOfUs report explains. The 21-year-old researcher describes this bad experience as “disorienting”.
A similar testimony appeared on the web last December. In an article on Medium, a 43-year-old American woman claimed to have been “verbally and sexually harassed by three or four male avatars, with male voices”. According to SumOfUs, thesexist, racist and homophobic comments are prevalent on the platform.
In order to prevent abuse, Meta has also added a function called “Personal Boundary”. It allows you to configure a perimeter around your avatar in Horizon Worlds in order to keep other road users away.
Horizon Worlds has just arrived in the UK. Meta is committed to deploying its digital universe in other European countries during the summer. It is possible that France is one of the nations concerned.
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Meta