Metaverse and Extended Reality

Advancing digitalisation is rapidly changing our world. Connected smart devices, artificial intelligence and practical applications have become an integral part of everyday life for many people and companies. One of the current developments has the potential to significantly influence our economy and the way we live together: The metaverse and extended reality, i.e. spaces and worlds that are created through the interaction of virtual, augmented, extended and physical reality.

The metaverse and extended reality can redefine and shape practically every area of our lives and the business world. All products, services and processes can be further developed or redesigned using virtual technologies and can be characterised by one key feature in particular: immersion. This change will gradually create a new digital ecosystem that will give rise to a multitude of new business areas.

In view of these developments, legal challenges also arise and the key question is whether new regulations are required for the metaverse and extended reality. While there are different views on this, it is clear that some legal issues in connection with the use cases of the metaverse are still unresolved. These include, for example, how data protection and privacy are handled in the metaverse and how data protection requirements are implemented.

The whitepaper provides an overview of current developments and challenges relating to the metaverse and extended reality. It presents current developments and their significance for society, companies and public administration. The authors address the question of whether new regulations are needed for the metaverse and extended reality and present some of the current initiatives and discussions at European and national level. In addition, the authors forecast upcoming challenges in the area of data protection law and offer a proposal for how a metaverse strategy can be developed.