Meta to bring in mandatory distances between virtual reality avatars

Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is making a multibillion-dollar bet on VR as the next source of growth for his empire but his strategy has already been dogged by warnings that virtual worlds are rife with abuse.

Meta announced on Friday that it is introducing personal boundaries on two VR apps: Horizon Worlds, where people can meet fellow VR users and design their own world; and Horizon Venues, which hosts VR events such as comedy shows or music gigs. The company said the distance between people will be the VR equivalent of four feet.

Zuckerberg renamed his company from Facebook Inc to Meta last year in a signal that the future of his business lies in the metaverse, a concept where the physical and digital worlds combine via virtual and augmented reality.

Although the notion of a fully fledged metaverse is many years away, Meta already announced a $50m (£37m) investment programme to ensure the concept meets regulatory and legal concerns, distributing the money among organisations and academic institutions such as Seoul National University and Women in Immersive Tech.