Aussie-led Responsible Metaverse Alliance to supercharge metaverse safety

Following several alleged sexual assaults inside the metaverse, a new Australian-led group wants to work with politicians and governments to keep virtual reality safe.

Julie Inman Grant at Davos talking about the need for limits on free speech.

A new Australian-led global initiative is aiming to prevent the mistakes made by Web 2.0 companies such as Facebook and Twitter, with the Responsible Metaverse Alliance launching at an event on Wednesday following multiple reports of sexual assault inside the metaverse.

With the social media era having been defined in part by rampant bullying and toxicity, the new not-for-profit group, led by AI expert Catriona Wallace, ethicist Sarah Klain and technology veteran Ben Payne, will work with politicians and governments internationally to address potential harms in the metaverse.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, spoke at Wednesday’s launch event, and said her office had been warning about the risks posed by new immersive technologies such as the metavese for some time.

“We need to shape the meta­verse rather than having the metaverse irreversibly shape us,” she said.

AI expert Catriona Wallace.

“Before we hurtle headlong into the metaverse, we need to ensure that safety is a forethought rather than an afterthought. Taking a safety-by-design mindset ensures that risks are anticipated and assessed and protections are woven in from the start, thus preventing exactly the kinds of harms we heard about today.

“We are looking forward to joining the Responsible Meta­verse Alliance and working with a broad range of stakeholders to promote a safer, more transparent and more human-focused meta­verse.”

UK-based psychotherapist and futurist Nina Jane Patel also spoke at Wednesday’s event and said she was virtually gang raped in Facebook’s metaverse. She has spoken out about being shocked after three to four avatars attacked her moments after she stepped in to the virtual world.

“Within 60 seconds of joining I was verbally and sexually harassed. Three to four male avatars, with male voices, essentially, but virtually gang raped my avatar and took photos. As I tried to get away, they yelled, ‘don’t pretend you didn’t love it’,” she said in a Medium post.

“Sexual harassment is no joke on the regular internet, but being in virtual reality adds another layer that makes the event more intense.

“The metaverse has been designed since day one to simulate reality … the real world. The technology has been designed and the fidelity is increasingly such that the lines between our real biological world and the synthetic digital world are blurred.”

Dr Wallace said it was her organisation’s view that Ms Patel’s virtual sexual assault should never have been allowed to happen. “The RMA will be focused on recommending regulation for the metaverse platform providers, responsible practices for metaverse suppliers and building a diverse, inclusive and accessible meta­verse,” she said.

“Australia has an opportunity to lead in the development of responsible metaverse practices.”

Other guests at the launch included representatives from state and federal agencies, police, universities and NGOs.

Tech giants such as Meta have not been invited to join, given the RMA is “being set up to allow a greater number of perspectives on the way the metaverse develops”, its founders say. Meta was contacted for comment.

A spokesperson for Meta said the tech company was sorry to hear about Patel’s ordeal and wanted its users to have a “positive experience and easily find the safety tools that can help in a situation like this — and help us investigate and take action.”

Originally published as Aussie-led Responsible Metaverse Alliance to supercharge metaverse safety