Facebook-Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been doubling down on all things metaverse recently, hoping to create an online platform in VR in the near future.

The push for the metaverse led to Meta making deals with VR companies, even outright buying some, so many were shocked to see the Facebook corporation blocked from making another purchase due to antitrust laws.

That’s enough VR for you Facebook

According to a report from The New York Times, Meta/Facebook was blocked from buying VR company Within as part of an antitrust lawsuit. This antitrust lawsuit claims that Zuckerberg and Meta are trying to monopolize the online space by purchasing VR companies like Within, which is why the current purchase has been blocked, at least for now.

“Meta seeks to exploit the network-effects dynamic in VR. Indeed, Mr. Zuckerberg has made clear that his aspiration for the VR space is control of the entire ecosystem,” reads the lawsuit. “The proposed acquisition of Within would be one more step along that path toward dominance.”

Considering major purchases we’ve seen before, like Disney buying Fox and Microsoft purchasing Activision Blizzard, it is somewhat surprising to see antitrust laws consider this a monopoly. Then again, the metaverse is still a fairly new concept to most, and Zuckerberg could have had a monopoly on that early, if not for this lawsuit.

Setting a precedent for the metaverse age

It seems that precautions are being made for the metaverse age so that Zuckerberg doesn’t get an immediate advantage over other competing companies. Admittedly, it’s easy to see that since Meta has been able to get a number of corporations to invest in the platform. Either way, the result of this case should be interesting.

“The FTC’s case is based on ideology and speculation, not evidence,” Meta wrote. “The FTC rests its arguments on a number of flawed premises and unsupported assumptions that do not stand up to scrutiny.”

It’s been a string of bad luck for Meta recently, with the company recently losing $2.8 billion in revenue. Some analysts even told stockholders to sell their Meta stocks. This antitrust lawsuit shows that their bad luck isn’t running out anytime soon.

The virtual world of The Metaverse is planned to be used for more than play. For corporations, the immersive technology is planned to be used for office work, allowing employers to have even more surveillance over their workers. But what do employees think about this?

Employees are terrified of working in The Metaverse

In a survey by ExpressVPN, tech employees were asked about privacy concerns with Metaverse working. The survey questioned 1,500 employees and 1,500 employees in the United States about the emerging technology’s placement in the work environment.

For starters, the survey results revealed that employees and employers have opposite views on the technology. While the majority of employees were concerned about being forced to worked in virtual reality, employers were largely for it.

In general, employees are anxious and suspicious about the Metaverse. 63% of employees believe that employers will take advantage of the virtual world to surveil them and collect data on them. They were also worried that they would have their eye, movement and screen time recorded.

The Virtual Hellscape of The Office

Of course, the use of virtual reality to stiff workers inside a virtual office is a soul-crushing idea. The wonders of virtual reality could put workers in the most mystical locations possible, but it’s likely going to be used for recreating the office in VR.

The virtual office is a response to large amounts of employees wanting to work from home, a process that increases productivity. However, with the Metaverse, office rules will be reinforced at home, with the extra intense glared screen right in front of your eyes.

It’s understandably not something the vast majority of employees want to be doing. However, it will happen, it just might not last as long as companies want it to. Hopefully.