News and Research articles on Metaverse

Big tech trajectories: A layer-model approach to extensions of platform power in the emerging XR economy

Morten Bay, University of Southern California
Joanne E. Gray, University of Sydney
PUBLISHED ON: 24 Sep 2026 DOI: 10.14763/2026.3.2097

The big tech companies are poised to establish early positions of dominance in the emerging XR economy. We offer a novel layer model of the emerging XR economy to support regulatory interventions that target structural sources of power.

Superhighway to serfdom: The political economy of the metaverse

Tom Mamer, Onofhängege Gewerkschaftsbond Lëtzebuerg (OGBL)
Annette Freyberg-Inan, University of Amsterdam
PUBLISHED ON: 24 Sep 2026 DOI: 10.14763/2026.3.2113

Plans for the metaverse are threatening to move us out of market capitalism into a technofeudal order – liberal market governance is no longer a sufficient regulatory response.

Avatarobots and the crisis of democracy: From bot armies to metaverse swarms

Constantin Vică, University of Bucharest
Radu Uszkai, University of Bucharest
Alexandru Dancu, University of Bucharest; National University of Physical Education and Sport, Bucharest
Cristina Voinea, University of Oxford
PUBLISHED ON: 24 Sep 2026 DOI: 10.14763/2026.3.2118

Avatarobots, synthetic majorities and the struggle for democratic agency in the metaverse.

This introduction explores how the evolution of the metaverse as an additional virtual public sphere challenges existing governance frameworks, and demonstrates the need for a comprehensive multi-disciplinary approach to adapting and re-imagining these frameworks.

Social work in metaverse: addressing tech policy gaps for racial and mental health equity

Siva Mathiyazhagan, Columbia University
Minahil Salam, Columbia University
Henry A. Willis, Columbia University
Desmond U. Patton, Columbia University

PUBLISHED ON: 16 Feb 2022

A Metaverse from a non-regulated tech environment might cause digital harm to vulnerable communities. The authors argue that addressing policy gaps with social work principles will lead to algorithmic equity in the virtual world.