personal, platform- or application-level policies may be
difficult to enforce. Furthermore, embodiment and pres-
ence in virtual reality spaces intensify harassment, while
ephemerality and non-standardized application controls
make it difficult to escape or report unwanted behaviour.
While norm formation is especially difficult in virtual real-
ity environments, and social VR has yet to develop shared
norms for appropriate behaviour. So alternative community
governance strategies are required for the metaverse to be
prosperous and inclusive.

## 2.10 Mitigation Strategies of Metaverse-triggered Unintended Consequences– Yichuan Wang & Carrie Yan

### 2.10.1 Unintended Consequences of Metaverse Utilization

Although the concept of the metaverse is still evolving
and there is not yet a widely accepted definition, utilizing
metaverse-related technologies (e.g., AR, VR, NFTs, and
3D reconstruction) for marketing purposes can improve
customer experiences and engagement and increase brand
awareness and recognition (Barrera & Shah, 2023; Dincelli
& Yayla, 2022; Dwivedi et al., 2022a; Hennig-Thurau et al.,
2022). For instance, Ralph Lauren has created a virtual
clothing line within the Zepeto social network and virtual
spaces (e.g., an iconic New York City location, Ralph's Cof-
fee Shop, and a live virtual concert) (DeAcetis, 2020). As
part of the promotion of Ralph Lauren's virtual clothing line,
customers are able to interact with avatars wearing the 3D
clothing collection and taking virtual selfies with them. Such
a virtual experience not only allows customers to "try on"
products in a virtual store, but also increases brand aware-
ness by reaching new audiences and creating real-time mul-
tisensory experiences.

While metaverse has the potential to offer a variety
of benefits for businesses, it presents several challenges
that organizations need to address. We observe three key
unintended consequences triggered by the utilization of
metaverse. The examples of metaverse-triggered unintended
consequences are summarized in Table 2.

**Emergence of Technostress** The value that the metaverse creates is dependent on how users respond to using specialized hardware or software is required to access the metaverse (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022). Indeed, for social interaction to be more realistic, substantial investment in advanced hardware (e.g., VR headsets and motion controllers) is required for users. It is also essential for users to comprehend the design and functionality of the virtual environment, interact with avatars and purchase products using digital currencies. From the personal use perspective, if users feel nauseous

or disoriented while using VR or AR, it can be difficult for
them to fully engage with and enjoy the content that is being
presented to them within the metaverse environment. This
engagement may create technostress, defined as technology-
induced stress that an individual experiences (Issa et al.,
2022; Salo et al., 2022).

**Technical Complexity** Creating and implementing metaverse marketing campaigns can be complex technically and require specialized skills and resources to overcome (e.g., 3D digital content creation, blockchain structure and access, and virtualization engines), which may be a challenge for some organizations (Dwivedi et al., 2023a; Ersoy & Gürfidan, 2022). For example, in 2020, Nike launched an AR marketing campaign called “Nike Fit Augmented Reality Footprint”. The campaign used AR technology to allow users to virtually try on different Nike shoes, using their smartphone's camera to visualize how the shoes would look on their feet. To implement this campaign, it required Nike to invest in specialized AR technology, work with a team of developers to create an AR experience and develop a marketing strategy to promote the campaign. However, currently available metaverse technologies may have limitations, such as the need for specialized hardware and high-bandwidth networks, low resolution and interactivity, and difficulty of integration with existing systems, which may adversely affect user experience (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022).

**Legal and Ethical Concerns** The use of metaverse technologies may raise legal and ethical concerns such as privacy invasion, data security, and misleading practices. It is possible that metaverse technologies collect data on users' interactions and behavior, which may raise privacy concerns, data breaches or cyber-attacks if the data is not properly secured or used. In addition, in the metaverse environment, misleading or deceptive marketing contents may be created. For instance, the NGO Truth in Advertising has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding Roblox's alleged deceptive advertising practices (Petrányi et al., 2022). The platform lacks a clear distinction between advertising and entertainment content, particularly for children, as well as between sponsored games and individual user-generated content. There are also legal concerns raised about advertiser-backed influencers appearing as avatars in the metaverse, as well as the sponsored nature of virtual events.

To address these challenges, we uncover four mitigation strategies for addressing unintended consequences of metaverse technologies used in the marketing domain, as depicted in Fig. 3.
personal, platform- or application-level policies may be
difficult to enforce. Furthermore, embodiment and pres-
ence in virtual reality spaces intensify harassment, while
ephemerality and non-standardized application controls
make it difficult to escape or report unwanted behaviour.
While norm formation is especially difficult in virtual real-
ity environments, and social VR has yet to develop shared
norms for appropriate behaviour. So alternative community
governance strategies are required for the metaverse to be
prosperous and inclusive.

## 2.10 Mitigation Strategies of Metaverse-triggered Unintended Consequences– Yichuan Wang & Carrie Yan

### 2.10.1 Unintended Consequences of Metaverse Utilization

Although the concept of the metaverse is still evolving
and there is not yet a widely accepted definition, utilizing
metaverse-related technologies (e.g., AR, VR, NFTs, and
3D reconstruction) for marketing purposes can improve
customer experiences and engagement and increase brand
awareness and recognition (Barrera & Shah, 2023; Dincelli
& Yayla, 2022; Dwivedi et al., 2022a; Hennig-Thurau et al.,
2022). For instance, Ralph Lauren has created a virtual
clothing line within the Zepeto social network and virtual
spaces (e.g., an iconic New York City location, Ralph's Cof-
fee Shop, and a live virtual concert) (DeAcetis, 2020). As
part of the promotion of Ralph Lauren's virtual clothing line,
customers are able to interact with avatars wearing the 3D
clothing collection and taking virtual selfies with them. Such
a virtual experience not only allows customers to "try on"
products in a virtual store, but also increases brand aware-
ness by reaching new audiences and creating real-time mul-
tisensory experiences.

While metaverse has the potential to offer a variety
of benefits for businesses, it presents several challenges
that organizations need to address. We observe three key
unintended consequences triggered by the utilization of
metaverse. The examples of metaverse-triggered unintended
consequences are summarized in Table 2.

**Emergence of Technostress** The value that the metaverse creates is dependent on how users respond to using specialized hardware or software is required to access the metaverse (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022). Indeed, for social interaction to be more realistic, substantial investment in advanced hardware (e.g., VR headsets and motion controllers) is required for users. It is also essential for users to comprehend the design and functionality of the virtual environment, interact with avatars and purchase products using digital currencies. From the personal use perspective, if users feel nauseous

or disoriented while using VR or AR, it can be difficult for
them to fully engage with and enjoy the content that is being
presented to them within the metaverse environment. This
engagement may create technostress, defined as technology-
induced stress that an individual experiences (Issa et al.,
2022; Salo et al., 2022).

**Technical Complexity** Creating and implementing metaverse marketing campaigns can be complex technically and require specialized skills and resources to overcome (e.g., 3D digital content creation, blockchain structure and access, and virtualization engines), which may be a challenge for some organizations (Dwivedi et al., 2023a; Ersoy & Gürfidan, 2022). For example, in 2020, Nike launched an AR marketing campaign called “Nike Fit Augmented Reality Footprint”. The campaign used AR technology to allow users to virtually try on different Nike shoes, using their smartphone's camera to visualize how the shoes would look on their feet. To implement this campaign, it required Nike to invest in specialized AR technology, work with a team of developers to create an AR experience and develop a marketing strategy to promote the campaign. However, currently available metaverse technologies may have limitations, such as the need for specialized hardware and high-bandwidth networks, low resolution and interactivity, and difficulty of integration with existing systems, which may adversely affect user experience (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022).

**Legal and Ethical Concerns** The use of metaverse technologies may raise legal and ethical concerns such as privacy invasion, data security, and misleading practices. It is possible that metaverse technologies collect data on users' interactions and behavior, which may raise privacy concerns, data breaches or cyber-attacks if the data is not properly secured or used. In addition, in the metaverse environment, misleading or deceptive marketing contents may be created. For instance, the NGO Truth in Advertising has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding Roblox's alleged deceptive advertising practices (Petrányi et al., 2022). The platform lacks a clear distinction between advertising and entertainment content, particularly for children, as well as between sponsored games and individual user-generated content. There are also legal concerns raised about advertiser-backed influencers appearing as avatars in the metaverse, as well as the sponsored nature of virtual events.

To address these challenges, we uncover four mitigation strategies for addressing unintended consequences of metaverse technologies used in the marketing domain, as depicted in Fig. 3.
<table><caption>**Table 2** Examples of metaverse-triggered unintended consequences</caption><thead><tr><th>Company/Business sectors</th><th>The application of metaverse</th><th>Metaverse picture</th><th>Unintended consequences</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>JP Morgan/Banking and finance</td><td>Open the Onyx lounge in Decentraland, located in Metaiuku, a virtual version of Tokyo's Harajuku shopping district. Located on the first floor is a tiger, watched over by a digital portrait of Jamie Dimon, while on the second floor, an avatar can watch experts discuss crypto market.</td><td></td><td>Limited content and activities to engage visitors (Shevlin, 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Roblox/Online game platform</td><td>Users can create their own games and play the ones created by others in an immersive virtual world. Roblox metaverse crypto is used daily by almost 47 million gamers to socialize and create new gaming experiences.</td><td></td><td>Deceptive advertising practices; fails to make a clear distinction between entertainment content and advertising content for children (Petrányi et al., 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Mason Rothschild's MetaBirkins NFT collection/Digital art</td><td>Digital art designer, Mason Rothschild has created 100 versions of the famed Hermes Birkin Bag as NFTs to raise awareness of animal-free luxury.</td><td></td><td>MetaBirkins was accused of trademark infringement, dilution, and cybersquatting by Hermes (Barber, 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Shudu Gram/Digital model agency</td><td>A digital supermodel created by photographer Cameron-James Wilson. Shudu is a 3D model, created using computer graphics software, and has been designed to be a real human being. As a digital model, she is able to be used for a wide range of purposes, such as appearing in photoshoots, advertisements, and other promotional materials.</td><td></td><td>The intention was to create a work of art, rather than generate a profit, but the model has received backlash for cultural appropriation. The model takes opportunities away from real black models (Jackson, 2018).</td></tr><tr><td>Epic Games' Fortnite/Online gaming</td><td>Fortnite is a free-to-play battle royale video game-based metaverses developed and published by Epic Games.</td><td></td><td>The Quebec Superior Court has approved a class-action lawsuit against Epic Games. The suit claims that the game was deliberately designed to be addictive, particularly to younger players (Bashir, 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Meta's Horizon Worlds/Social networking platform</td><td>A free VR-based social networking platform developed by Meta. It allows users to interact with each other through a variety of activities (e.g., social events and games).</td><td></td><td>A female avatar was sexually assaulted by male avatars (Shen, 2022).</td></tr></tbody></table>

<figure><img src="image_13.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_16.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_17.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_18.png" /></figure>

## 2.10.2 Mitigation Strategies of Metaverse-triggered Unintended Consequences

**Addressing Digital Privacy Concerns** There is a growing threat of data breaches and privacy invasions in the metaverse as it continues to develop. It is essential to prioritize user data security when creating new metaverse-based experiences, as failure to do so could lead to widespread consumer mistrust (Krishnamurthy et al., 2022). Metaverse designers must be cognizant of consumer demand for transparency and privacy controls to ensure trust between metaverse consumers and metaverse experiences. For example, a metaverse experience should provide users with the option to opt-in or out of data collection, as well as give them access to view what data is being collected from them. By

utilizing consumer feedback to inform their metaverse design, metaverse creators need to work closely with their marketing and IT teams, data analysts and legal professionals to ensure that they have the tools and expertise necessary to use customer feedback to inform their design decisions (Dwivedi et al., 2022a, 2023a). Moreover, there are also concerns about content ownership and privacy in the metaverse, including potential issues with NFT transactions and the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies. To address these issues, it may be necessary to implement technologies such as Confidential Computing and to issue digital smart contracts for certification of authenticity (Krishnamurthy et al., 2022).

**Creating Meaningful Engagement without Risking Consumer Burnout** The metaverse has the potential to connect businesses, brands, and consumers. Decentralized Autonomous

<figure><img src="image_19.png" /></figure>
<table><caption>**Table 2** Examples of metaverse-triggered unintended consequences</caption><thead><tr><th>Company/Business sectors</th><th>The application of metaverse</th><th>Metaverse picture</th><th>Unintended consequences</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>JP Morgan/Banking and finance</td><td>Open the Onyx lounge in Decentraland, located in Metaiuku, a virtual version of Tokyo's Harajuku shopping district. Located on the first floor is a tiger, watched over by a digital portrait of Jamie Dimon, while on the second floor, an avatar can watch experts discuss crypto market.</td><td></td><td>Limited content and activities to engage visitors (Shevlin, 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Roblox/Online game platform</td><td>Users can create their own games and play the ones created by others in an immersive virtual world. Roblox metaverse crypto is used daily by almost 47 million gamers to socialize and create new gaming experiences.</td><td></td><td>Deceptive advertising practices; fails to make a clear distinction between entertainment content and advertising content for children (Petrányi et al., 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Mason Rothschild's MetaBirkins NFT collection/Digital art</td><td>Digital art designer, Mason Rothschild has created 100 versions of the famed Hermes Birkin Bag as NFTs to raise awareness of animal-free luxury.</td><td></td><td>MetaBirkins was accused of trademark infringement, dilution, and cybersquatting by Hermes (Barber, 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Shudu Gram/Digital model agency</td><td>A digital supermodel created by photographer Cameron-James Wilson. Shudu is a 3D model, created using computer graphics software, and has been designed to be a real human being. As a digital model, she is able to be used for a wide range of purposes, such as appearing in photoshoots, advertisements, and other promotional materials.</td><td></td><td>The intention was to create a work of art, rather than generate a profit, but the model has received backlash for cultural appropriation. The model takes opportunities away from real black models (Jackson, 2018).</td></tr><tr><td>Epic Games' Fortnite/Online gaming</td><td>Fortnite is a free-to-play battle royale video game-based metaverses developed and published by Epic Games.</td><td></td><td>The Quebec Superior Court has approved a class-action lawsuit against Epic Games. The suit claims that the game was deliberately designed to be addictive, particularly to younger players (Bashir, 2022).</td></tr><tr><td>Meta's Horizon Worlds/Social networking platform</td><td>A free VR-based social networking platform developed by Meta. It allows users to interact with each other through a variety of activities (e.g., social events and games).</td><td></td><td>A female avatar was sexually assaulted by male avatars (Shen, 2022).</td></tr></tbody></table>

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_16.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_17.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_18.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_19.png" /></figure>

## 2.10.2 Mitigation Strategies of Metaverse-triggered Unintended Consequences

**Addressing Digital Privacy Concerns** There is a growing threat of data breaches and privacy invasions in the metaverse as it continues to develop. It is essential to prioritize user data security when creating new metaverse-based experiences, as failure to do so could lead to widespread consumer mistrust (Krishnamurthy et al., 2022). Metaverse designers must be cognizant of consumer demand for transparency and privacy controls to ensure trust between metaverse consumers and metaverse experiences. For example, a metaverse experience should provide users with the option to opt-in or out of data collection, as well as give them access to view what data is being collected from them. By

utilizing consumer feedback to inform their metaverse design, metaverse creators need to work closely with their marketing and IT teams, data analysts and legal professionals to ensure that they have the tools and expertise necessary to use customer feedback to inform their design decisions (Dwivedi et al., 2022a, 2023a). Moreover, there are also concerns about content ownership and privacy in the metaverse, including potential issues with NFT transactions and the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies. To address these issues, it may be necessary to implement technologies such as Confidential Computing and to issue digital smart contracts for certification of authenticity (Krishnamurthy et al., 2022).

**Creating Meaningful Engagement without Risking Consumer Burnout** The metaverse has the potential to connect businesses, brands, and consumers. Decentralized Autonomous

<figure><img src="image_20.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_20.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3** Mitigation strategies of metaverse-triggered unintended consequences</figcaption></figure>

Organizations (DAOs) and NFTs are examples of how metaverse business models can be new types of borderless and global businesses. Taking full advantage of the metaverse's potential will require executives to adjust their decision-making processes to accommodate digital business models (Williams, 2022). As users remain reluctant to use or accept the metaverse (Issa et al., 2022), executives need to provide clear justifications for users to spend time in virtual spaces and set clear engagement goals rather than stressing the metaverse concept per se. Simply inserting an existing business model into the metaverse is not enough to ensure its sustainability in the virtual space. A successful example is that Epic Games' Fortnite organized a Travis Scott live Fortnite concert in 2020 with over million players attending. This metaverse event is seen by Epic Game as a mere extension of its core game development.

The metaverse allows users to interact and engage with one another and is being used by marketers to create meaningful consumer engagement and drive-up consumer aspirations (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022). This can be achieved through co-creation of content, “conversational commerce” (Miao et al., 2022) and haptic experiences (Luangrath et al., 2022), product testing, corporate social responsibility activities, and brand mascot virtual interactions. However, it is important for marketers to be mindful of their audience and the amount of time and effort they are asking them to put in. Providing a balance of activities, offering a mix of interactive experiences, allowing consumers to control their own level of involvement can avoid consumer burnout.

**Harnessing Identity Authentication** Identity authentication is an important issue in the metaverse, as it allows users to establish their online identities and ensures that they are who they claim to be. The metaverse offers a range of authentication opportunities beyond traditional physical identification. With the rise of virtual influencers, digital avatars, and fake IDs, verifying identity within the metaverse can be much more difficult than in the real world. There is a

wide selection of biometric and cryptographic solutions that may be implemented in the metaverse to help ensure security and prevent identity theft. For example, users may use facial recognition, voice recognition, eye scan technology, or other biometric authentication methods to prove their identity when accessing certain digital worlds. Additionally, metaverse-specific encryption keys can be used to secure digital objects such as NFTs, ensuring that assets are not stolen or compromised. While metaverse identity theft is still a possibility, these authentication methods help to protect against metaverse identity theft and provide a greater measure of security for human users.

**Managing User- and Avatar- Generated Content and Behavior** Virtual influencers are digital avatars or characters that are used to represent real people or brands on social media or in virtual reality environments (Miao et al., 2022). To manage the identify and behavior of virtual influencers in metaverse environments, firms need to set clear guidelines and expectations for the use of virtual influencer (Dwivedi et al., 2023a). This should include guidelines for social media posts, interactions with fans and followers, and any other public-facing activities. Firms also need to take action if the virtual influencer's behavior goes against the guidelines or expectations set. This may involve removing inappropriate content, issuing warnings, taking more severe action if necessary, and monitor the virtual influencer's activities and interactions on a regular basis (Kim, 2021).

In the metaverse, sexually explicit activity is a growing concern. For example, the metaverse has seen a rise in the prevalence of cybersex trafficking, which involves the sale and purchase of virtual sexual services. The victims are vulnerable people from marginalized communities who are coerced into performing online acts that are then broadcast to paying customers. This form of exploitation is particularly concerning as metaverse users can remain anonymous and thus, evade law enforcement. Given the potential for abuse and exploitation, it is important to take steps to protect
<figure><img src="image_21.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3** Mitigation strategies of metaverse-triggered unintended consequences</figcaption></figure>

Organizations (DAOs) and NFTs are examples of how metaverse business models can be new types of borderless and global businesses. Taking full advantage of the metaverse's potential will require executives to adjust their decision-making processes to accommodate digital business models (Williams, 2022). As users remain reluctant to use or accept the metaverse (Issa et al., 2022), executives need to provide clear justifications for users to spend time in virtual spaces and set clear engagement goals rather than stressing the metaverse concept per se. Simply inserting an existing business model into the metaverse is not enough to ensure its sustainability in the virtual space. A successful example is that Epic Games' Fortnite organized a Travis Scott live Fortnite concert in 2020 with over million players attending. This metaverse event is seen by Epic Game as a mere extension of its core game development.

The metaverse allows users to interact and engage with one another and is being used by marketers to create meaningful consumer engagement and drive-up consumer aspirations (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022). This can be achieved through co-creation of content, “conversational commerce” (Miao et al., 2022) and haptic experiences (Luangrath et al., 2022), product testing, corporate social responsibility activities, and brand mascot virtual interactions. However, it is important for marketers to be mindful of their audience and the amount of time and effort they are asking them to put in. Providing a balance of activities, offering a mix of interactive experiences, allowing consumers to control their own level of involvement can avoid consumer burnout.

**Harnessing Identity Authentication** Identity authentication is an important issue in the metaverse, as it allows users to establish their online identities and ensures that they are who they claim to be. The metaverse offers a range of authentication opportunities beyond traditional physical identification. With the rise of virtual influencers, digital avatars, and fake IDs, verifying identity within the metaverse can be much more difficult than in the real world. There is a

wide selection of biometric and cryptographic solutions that may be implemented in the metaverse to help ensure security and prevent identity theft. For example, users may use facial recognition, voice recognition, eye scan technology, or other biometric authentication methods to prove their identity when accessing certain digital worlds. Additionally, metaverse-specific encryption keys can be used to secure digital objects such as NFTs, ensuring that assets are not stolen or compromised. While metaverse identity theft is still a possibility, these authentication methods help to protect against metaverse identity theft and provide a greater measure of security for human users.

**Managing User- and Avatar- Generated Content and Behavior** Virtual influencers are digital avatars or characters that are used to represent real people or brands on social media or in virtual reality environments (Miao et al., 2022). To manage the identify and behavior of virtual influencers in metaverse environments, firms need to set clear guidelines and expectations for the use of virtual influencer (Dwivedi et al., 2023a). This should include guidelines for social media posts, interactions with fans and followers, and any other public-facing activities. Firms also need to take action if the virtual influencer's behavior goes against the guidelines or expectations set. This may involve removing inappropriate content, issuing warnings, taking more severe action if necessary, and monitor the virtual influencer's activities and interactions on a regular basis (Kim, 2021).

In the metaverse, sexually explicit activity is a growing concern. For example, the metaverse has seen a rise in the prevalence of cybersex trafficking, which involves the sale and purchase of virtual sexual services. The victims are vulnerable people from marginalized communities who are coerced into performing online acts that are then broadcast to paying customers. This form of exploitation is particularly concerning as metaverse users can remain anonymous and thus, evade law enforcement. Given the potential for abuse and exploitation, it is important to take steps to protect
minors from viewing or engaging in sexually explicit content in metaverse environments (Kim, 2021). Strict regulation of metaverses should be implemented through age verifications systems, regular monitoring of virtual clubs, and the use of artificial intelligence-based technologies to detect and remove inappropriate content. Moreover, metaverse users should be encouraged to report any suspicious activity or behavior they witness in virtual clubs. Such proactive measures will ensure that metaverse environments are safe spaces for users of all ages.

## 2.11 Scoping the Future of Dark Side of Metaverse – A Thematic Overview– Abhishek Behl, Gareth H. Davies and Vincent Dutot

The metaverse has a long history of evolution, but it has recently gained attention from businesses across all sectors. While the growth in interest in the metaverse has been phenomenal and studies have dissected the metaverse into multiple dimensions, its exploration of the dark side remains less explored. The vices of metaverse can be divided into the following categories.

### 2.11.1 Psychological Issues

The metaverse offers a parallel world to its users, which often keeps them a deluded state about what is real and what is fake. Studies have shown that excess time spent in virtual world impacts users' psychological well-being and often results in anxiety, technostress, etc. (Dwivedi et al., 2022a, 2023a; Oh et al., 2023). It could also lead to social disconnections and relationship issues in the real world. As the metaverse world starts growing with the population of people, it is expected to impact their real-world mental health. Drawing from the gaming world, it is also expected that the meta version of people will face psychological issues in the metaverse world, like bullying; a toxic environment with gender imbalance avatars (Gadekallu et al., 2022; Oh et al., 2023). Thus, these aspects call for exploring psychological issues from the users' perspective in the metaverse and real world.

### 2.11.2 Security and Governance Issues

The growth of gadgets helps people transition into the metaverse world. While Web 2.0 somewhat restricted people from sharing certain forms of data such as contacts, finances, and engagement, the gadget-driven metaverse world adds a layer of data that firms can collect. Avatars-driven metaverses and the virtual world make users travel via technology. The pseudo-space time makes them act in situations that

the human body is not accustomed mainly, generating new forms of data that are often unregulated and unmonitored (Wang et al., 2022). Studies in virtual worlds indicate an immediate need to assess the security and governance issues of data, its breach, and its misuse (Dwivedi et al., 2022a, 2023a; Wang et al., 2022).

Moreover, the current technology does not restrict users to experiencing metaverse under a particular age bracket. On occasions where the age is validated, the systems' design is weak in verifying age and user profile (Gadekallu et al., 2022). There is a need to assess security and governance from an organizational and individual perspective.

### 2.11.3 Theoretical Foundations

Recent studies have used some theoretical foundations to explain specific actions of users and organizations in the metaverse; however, the choice of using theories is often not debated. Current metaverse focussed studies deal with a combination of 5 assumptions as proposed by Alvesson and Sandberg (2011): in house assumptions; root metaphor assumptions; paradigm assumptions; ideology assumptions; and field assumptions. Although most studies don't consider these areas as a risk or challenge, it is important to ensure the literature addresses these areas to develop arguments appropriately and not develop incorrect theoretical paradigms (Kozinets, 2023). Drawing from the lens of problematization (Sandberg & Alvesson, 2011), it is critical to not rely on confusion spotting, neglect spotting, or application spotting.

### 2.11.4 Health Issues

With the growing population on metaverse, keeping the real world interactions at stake, health issues would become the primary concern for users. As the metaverse is experientially new to the users, there lies a risk of higher degree physical catastrophes. The exposure to disrupted emotional simulations could impact their sleep cycles; obesity and cognitive learning skills in the real world (Garavand & Aslani, 2022). This would further trigger personality issues in the real world. Studies have also indicated that people who play excessive games tend to deal with issues like split personality; and mismatched expectations (Gadekallu et al., 2022; Kerdvibulvech, 2022).

### 2.11.5 Ethical Issues

The metaverse, unlike the real world, is not developed with law and order as an integral element of the infrastructure.

<figure><img src="image_21.png" /></figure>
minors from viewing or engaging in sexually explicit content in metaverse environments (Kim, 2021). Strict regulation of metaverses should be implemented through age verifications systems, regular monitoring of virtual clubs, and the use of artificial intelligence-based technologies to detect and remove inappropriate content. Moreover, metaverse users should be encouraged to report any suspicious activity or behavior they witness in virtual clubs. Such proactive measures will ensure that metaverse environments are safe spaces for users of all ages.

## 2.11 Scoping the Future of Dark Side of Metaverse – A Thematic Overview– Abhishek Behl, Gareth H. Davies and Vincent Dutot

The metaverse has a long history of evolution, but it has recently gained attention from businesses across all sectors. While the growth in interest in the metaverse has been phenomenal and studies have dissected the metaverse into multiple dimensions, its exploration of the dark side remains less explored. The vices of metaverse can be divided into the following categories.

### 2.11.1 Psychological Issues

The metaverse offers a parallel world to its users, which often keeps them a deluded state about what is real and what is fake. Studies have shown that excess time spent in virtual world impacts users' psychological well-being and often results in anxiety, technostress, etc. (Dwivedi et al., 2022a, 2023a; Oh et al., 2023). It could also lead to social disconnections and relationship issues in the real world. As the metaverse world starts growing with the population of people, it is expected to impact their real-world mental health. Drawing from the gaming world, it is also expected that the meta version of people will face psychological issues in the metaverse world, like bullying; a toxic environment with gender imbalance avatars (Gadekallu et al., 2022; Oh et al., 2023). Thus, these aspects call for exploring psychological issues from the users' perspective in the metaverse and real world.

### 2.11.2 Security and Governance Issues

The growth of gadgets helps people transition into the metaverse world. While Web 2.0 somewhat restricted people from sharing certain forms of data such as contacts, finances, and engagement, the gadget-driven metaverse world adds a layer of data that firms can collect. Avatars-driven metaverses and the virtual world make users travel via technology. The pseudo-space time makes them act in situations that

the human body is not accustomed mainly, generating new forms of data that are often unregulated and unmonitored (Wang et al., 2022). Studies in virtual worlds indicate an immediate need to assess the security and governance issues of data, its breach, and its misuse (Dwivedi et al., 2022a, 2023a; Wang et al., 2022).

Moreover, the current technology does not restrict users to experiencing metaverse under a particular age bracket. On occasions where the age is validated, the systems' design is weak in verifying age and user profile (Gadekallu et al., 2022). There is a need to assess security and governance from an organizational and individual perspective.

### 2.11.3 Theoretical Foundations

Recent studies have used some theoretical foundations to explain specific actions of users and organizations in the metaverse; however, the choice of using theories is often not debated. Current metaverse focussed studies deal with a combination of 5 assumptions as proposed by Alvesson and Sandberg (2011): in house assumptions; root metaphor assumptions; paradigm assumptions; ideology assumptions; and field assumptions. Although most studies don't consider these areas as a risk or challenge, it is important to ensure the literature addresses these areas to develop arguments appropriately and not develop incorrect theoretical paradigms (Kozinets, 2023). Drawing from the lens of problematization (Sandberg & Alvesson, 2011), it is critical to not rely on confusion spotting, neglect spotting, or application spotting.

### 2.11.4 Health Issues

With the growing population on metaverse, keeping the real world interactions at stake, health issues would become the primary concern for users. As the metaverse is experientially new to the users, there lies a risk of higher degree physical catastrophes. The exposure to disrupted emotional simulations could impact their sleep cycles; obesity and cognitive learning skills in the real world (Garavand & Aslani, 2022). This would further trigger personality issues in the real world. Studies have also indicated that people who play excessive games tend to deal with issues like split personality; and mismatched expectations (Gadekallu et al., 2022; Kerdvibulvech, 2022).

### 2.11.5 Ethical Issues

The metaverse, unlike the real world, is not developed with law and order as an integral element of the infrastructure.

<figure><img src="image_22.png" /></figure>
Entities even target the decentralized version of parallel
metaverses to breed issues like cyberbullying; fraud; finan-
cial scams; neurological manipulations; and unconven-
tional use of technology (Zallio & Clarkson, 2022; Smaili
and Rancourt-Raymond, 2022). Drawing from the tenets of
responsible artificial intelligence (RAI) and explainable arti-
ficial intelligence (XAI), it is crucial to explore the respon-
sible metaverse (RM) and explainable metaverse (XM). The
metaverse needs to be explored from perspectives of morals;
responsibilities; trust; behavior; principles; relationships;
choices, and reliability. The asymmetrical growth of tech-
nology and business expansion also needs to be explored
using moral policing.

**2.11.6 Knowledge Management Issues**

Knowledge management, in its contemporary form, focuses on people, processes, content, and strategy. The metaverse will face issues related to developing knowledge libraries and pathways due to its unorganized and unstructured form of data (Wang et al., 2023). The current form of metaverse empowers users to present and project knowledge and information controlled by them rather than a pre-defined system. This promotes information asymmetry, knowledge hiding, and knowledge mismatch, as it would be patchy at the moment (Buhalis et al., 2022). The form of data and knowledge patches would also have concerns regarding their reliability and validity. It would raise difficulties in fraud detection procedures, personal information protection, setting and controlling personal data; maintain real and virtual profiles of users, to name a few.

Having said this, the dark side of the metaverse needs to
be studied from a scoping review of linking the following
themes:

a) How can behavioral and social psychology be used for users inside and outside the metaverse over a long time?

b) How do users in the metaverse evolve their psychodynamics and cross-cultural psychology in a fuzzy and unorganized environment?

c) How can data breaches and identity theft be understood and controlled in the dark web and misrepresented and delusional presence and activities of users in the metaverse?

d) How can new theories be generated for understanding the scope and dimensions of the dark side of the metaverse?

e) Will the metaverse lead to new diseases and resurface old ones, and is the healthcare industry ready for it?

f) How do firms control the unethical behaviour of employees and users in the metaverse? Can spending time in the metaverse impact their real-world ethics?

g) Can knowledge hiding be considered an asset in the metaverse? Does the metaverse change the personality of the being temporarily or permanently?

**2.12 Murky Side of Metaverse: Implications and Research Questions—Neeraj Pandey, Mihalis Giannakis and Ramakrishnan Raman**

The online world is getting transformed with the advent of metaverse-based platforms (Dwivedi et al., 2022a). The metaverse, despite its virtues, has several dark side dimensions. The cognition and awareness of these negative facets would aid in building appropriate checks and would go a long way in seamlessly managing metaverse-based platforms. There is a need for organizations to align the conceptualization, implementation, and database usage of their metaverse platforms with the legal provisions of the state. Firms must have clarity that the metaverse is a medium to reach out to its stakeholders in an efficient manner and not an end itself. The focus of the service or product should be providing a superior customer experience where the technology is just an enabler (Ramasundaram et al., 2023). The deployment of hardware and software as an integral part of the metaverse environment, at times, takes away the level-playing field that digital marketing brought to startups and medium enterprises against the cash-rich larger conglomerates. There have been several incidences of bullying and assault on the metaverse platforms (Table 3). The regulation of the metaverse by a neutral body is an open question. It would help to adjudicate and regulate any reported incidents of bullying, fraud, and violence by the avatars on the platform. There should be a provision that the things that are unlawful in the real world, like advertisements of guns and prohibited drugs, should also be a punishable offense in the metaverse platforms.

**2.12.1 Industry-Specific Dimensions**

The metaverse has brought a paradigm shift in customer,
peer, and organization-level interactions. It is a three-
dimensional immersive online platform as compared to
two-dimensional interactive social media channels like Face-
book, LinkedIn, and Instagram. The metaverse environment
is akin to the real-world physical space leading to superior
customer experience and efficient interfaces. It facilitates
hyper-customization and fun in online interactions by pro-
viding options to choose one's own avatar. The increased
use of the metaverse by individuals, organizations, and gov-
ernment bodies is leading to an urgent need for addressing
and checking the dark side of this online phenomenon. The
industry-specific dark-side issues and challenges are enu-
merated below:
Entities even target the decentralized version of parallel
metaverses to breed issues like cyberbullying; fraud; finan-
cial scams; neurological manipulations; and unconven-
tional use of technology (Zallio & Clarkson, 2022; Smaili
and Rancourt-Raymond, 2022). Drawing from the tenets of
responsible artificial intelligence (RAI) and explainable arti-
ficial intelligence (XAI), it is crucial to explore the respon-
sible metaverse (RM) and explainable metaverse (XM). The
metaverse needs to be explored from perspectives of morals;
responsibilities; trust; behavior; principles; relationships;
choices, and reliability. The asymmetrical growth of tech-
nology and business expansion also needs to be explored
using moral policing.

**2.11.6 Knowledge Management Issues**

Knowledge management, in its contemporary form, focuses on people, processes, content, and strategy. The metaverse will face issues related to developing knowledge libraries and pathways due to its unorganized and unstructured form of data (Wang et al., 2023). The current form of metaverse empowers users to present and project knowledge and information controlled by them rather than a pre-defined system. This promotes information asymmetry, knowledge hiding, and knowledge mismatch, as it would be patchy at the moment (Buhalis et al., 2022). The form of data and knowledge patches would also have concerns regarding their reliability and validity. It would raise difficulties in fraud detection procedures, personal information protection, setting and controlling personal data; maintain real and virtual profiles of users, to name a few.

Having said this, the dark side of the metaverse needs to
be studied from a scoping review of linking the following
themes:

a) How can behavioral and social psychology be used for users inside and outside the metaverse over a long time?

b) How do users in the metaverse evolve their psychodynamics and cross-cultural psychology in a fuzzy and unorganized environment?

c) How can data breaches and identity theft be understood and controlled in the dark web and misrepresented and delusional presence and activities of users in the metaverse?

d) How can new theories be generated for understanding the scope and dimensions of the dark side of the metaverse?

e) Will the metaverse lead to new diseases and resurface old ones, and is the healthcare industry ready for it?

f) How do firms control the unethical behaviour of employees and users in the metaverse? Can spending time in the metaverse impact their real-world ethics?

g) Can knowledge hiding be considered an asset in the metaverse? Does the metaverse change the personality of the being temporarily or permanently?

**2.12 Murky Side of Metaverse: Implications and Research Questions—Neeraj Pandey, Mihalis Giannakis and Ramakrishnan Raman**

The online world is getting transformed with the advent of metaverse-based platforms (Dwivedi et al., 2022a). The metaverse, despite its virtues, has several dark side dimensions. The cognition and awareness of these negative facets would aid in building appropriate checks and would go a long way in seamlessly managing metaverse-based platforms. There is a need for organizations to align the conceptualization, implementation, and database usage of their metaverse platforms with the legal provisions of the state. Firms must have clarity that the metaverse is a medium to reach out to its stakeholders in an efficient manner and not an end itself. The focus of the service or product should be providing a superior customer experience where the technology is just an enabler (Ramasundaram et al., 2023). The deployment of hardware and software as an integral part of the metaverse environment, at times, takes away the level-playing field that digital marketing brought to startups and medium enterprises against the cash-rich larger conglomerates. There have been several incidences of bullying and assault on the metaverse platforms (Table 3). The regulation of the metaverse by a neutral body is an open question. It would help to adjudicate and regulate any reported incidents of bullying, fraud, and violence by the avatars on the platform. There should be a provision that the things that are unlawful in the real world, like advertisements of guns and prohibited drugs, should also be a punishable offense in the metaverse platforms.

**2.12.1 Industry-Specific Dimensions**

The metaverse has brought a paradigm shift in customer,
peer, and organization-level interactions. It is a three-
dimensional immersive online platform as compared to
two-dimensional interactive social media channels like Face-
book, LinkedIn, and Instagram. The metaverse environment
is akin to the real-world physical space leading to superior
customer experience and efficient interfaces. It facilitates
hyper-customization and fun in online interactions by pro-
viding options to choose one's own avatar. The increased
use of the metaverse by individuals, organizations, and gov-
ernment bodies is leading to an urgent need for addressing
and checking the dark side of this online phenomenon. The
industry-specific dark-side issues and challenges are enu-
merated below:
<table><caption>**Table 3** Dark side of metaverse</caption><thead><tr><td>Incident</td><td>Metaverse platform</td><td>Details about the incident</td><td>More details</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Assault</td><td>MetaVenues</td><td>A lady was assaulted by male avatars as she entered the metaverse environment. She was verbally and sexually assaulted in the virtual space, which left her traumatized</td><td>https://cybernews.com/editorial/in-the-metaverse-the-attack-surfa ce-expands-to-your-brain-interview/</td></tr><tr><td>Bullying</td><td>Meta VR Chat</td><td>It included the use of unparliamentary language, racism, and pornographic content by the users. The visitors on the platform also included minors</td><td>https://counterhate.com/blog/new-research-shows-metaverse-is- not-safe-for-kids/ https://twitter.com/CCDHate/status/1491516503937589251</td></tr><tr><td>Harassment</td><td>Microsoft AltspaceVR</td><td>The male member intruded on the ongoing discussion between female members. It made the female member uncomfortable as he entered her avatar's personal space and chatted inappropriately. Microsoft built the AltspaceVR bubble to restrict people from entering other person's personal space</td><td>https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/16/microsoft-shuts-down-altsp acevrs-social-hubs-to-combat-harassment/ https://cybernews.com/editorial/the-dark-side-of-the-metaverse- taking-your-nightmares-online/</td></tr><tr><td>Digital addiction and depression</td><td>All metaverse platforms</td><td>Excessive screen time and AR/VR usage led to digital addiction and depression, besides other mental health issues</td><td>https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/08/17/ the-metaverse-and-mental-health-supporting-employees-in-virtu al-environments/?sh=67707d9ece4e</td></tr><tr><td>Hacking and Blackmail</td><td>Roblox</td><td>Hackers infected Roblox and blackmailed the site owners into paying them in its virtual currency Robux. Hackers also stole Robux and gears from individual accounts and tried to sell them on the Discord channel for globally tradable bitcoins</td><td>https://www.familyaddictionspecialist.com/blog/a-new-age-of- digital-addiction-what-the-metaverse-means-for-mental-health- and-digital-addiction https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gd4a/roblox-beaming-hackers https://techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/roblox-hack-data- leak</td></tr></tbody></table>

<figure><img src="image_22.png" /></figure>
<table><caption>**Table 3** Dark side of metaverse</caption><thead><tr><td>Incident</td><td>Metaverse platform</td><td>Details about the incident</td><td>More details</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Assault</td><td>MetaVenues</td><td>A lady was assaulted by male avatars as she entered the metaverse environment. She was verbally and sexually assaulted in the virtual space, which left her traumatized</td><td>https://cybernews.com/editorial/in-the-metaverse-the-attack-surfa ce-expands-to-your-brain-interview/</td></tr><tr><td>Bullying</td><td>Meta VR Chat</td><td>It included the use of unparliamentary language, racism, and pornographic content by the users. The visitors on the platform also included minors</td><td>https://counterhate.com/blog/new-research-shows-metaverse-is- not-safe-for-kids/ https://twitter.com/CCDHate/status/1491516503937589251</td></tr><tr><td>Harassment</td><td>Microsoft AltspaceVR</td><td>The male member intruded on the ongoing discussion between female members. It made the female member uncomfortable as he entered her avatar's personal space and chatted inappropriately. Microsoft built the AltspaceVR bubble to restrict people from entering other person's personal space</td><td>https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/16/microsoft-shuts-down-altsp acevrs-social-hubs-to-combat-harassment/ https://cybernews.com/editorial/the-dark-side-of-the-metaverse- taking-your-nightmares-online/</td></tr><tr><td>Digital addiction and depression</td><td>All metaverse platforms</td><td>Excessive screen time and AR/VR usage led to digital addiction and depression, besides other mental health issues</td><td>https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/08/17/ the-metaverse-and-mental-health-supporting-employees-in-virtu al-environments/?sh=67707d9ece4e</td></tr><tr><td>Hacking and Blackmail</td><td>Roblox</td><td>Hackers infected Roblox and blackmailed the site owners into paying them in its virtual currency Robux. Hackers also stole Robux and gears from individual accounts and tried to sell them on the Discord channel for globally tradable bitcoins</td><td>https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gd4a/roblox-beaming-hackers https://techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/roblox-hack-data- leak</td></tr></tbody></table>

<figure><img src="image_23.png" /></figure>
**Gaming and Metaverse** Gaming was the earliest industry where the metaverse type of mechanics was implemented. Roblox, Zepeto, and Fortnite were such popular gaming sites. The gaming sites are prone to cyberattacks to steal the user profile information besides taking away their virtual gear and earning from games like Robux, ZEMs, coins, V-Bucks, etc. (Table 3). The excessive use of metaverse platforms has led to mental health cases, particularly among children and young adults (Dwivedi et al., 2022a). Natural movement, including exercises and physical sports, has reduced due to the extreme indulgence of metaverse-based gaming platforms. Addiction to such platforms may also lead to attention deficit and eating disorders among heavy users. The excessive use of headphones and AR-VR headgear on these new-age platforms has led to an adverse neural impact on heavy users (Wells, 2021).

**Digital Marketing and Metaverse** The initial experience of firms regarding digital marketing on metaverse platforms like Decentraland and Roblox has been mixed. Many organizations had confusion over applicable attribution models and returns on investment (RoI) in terms of sales conversions. The issue of bots and impersonation on metaverse platforms, besides the growing digital divide, was another issue that needs to be addressed. The increased use of the metaverse for digital marketing, has led to increased energy consumption and thus an increased carbon footprint. Privacy is another major concern on metaverse platforms. The granularity and amount of data collected in the three-dimensional metaverse environment is much more than the traditional two-dimensional social media platforms. The tracking using digital marketing tools to steal metaverse users’ data is a real threat. Privacy in social networking platforms is a subjective phenomenon, and perception may vary as per the individual (Pandey & Gudipudi, 2019). However, metaverse platforms have to devise certain rule and protocols for ensuring users’ privacy to provide users sufficient confidence in metaverse platforms and allow them to interact freely. The metaverse has also led to increased use of NFTs and cryptocurrencies that have given rise to price speculation and increased financial risk to buyers about their future valuation (Wilson et al., 2022).

**Healthcare and Metaverse** Besides advertising, entertainment, education and healthcare are other domains where the use of metaverse platforms is expected to grow in the coming years significantly. Lack of human touch and empathy, besides privacy concerns, are leading to adoption challenges of metaverse-based healthcare delivery systems. The legal compliance and safety issues in transferring patient medical records to other departments and hospitals in a metaverse environment are yet to be navigated (Chengoden et al., 2022). Metaverse-based healthcare databases would be prone to cyberattacks which may lead to the loss of critical

patient medical records and financial details, which in turn can impact the treatment and insurance claim process. There is also reputational risk for the healthcare service provider and regulator in such violations.

### 2.12.2 Implications for Practice

The metaverse, as an idea and its implementation, is progressing to maturity. The negative aspects are part and parcel of this digital journey. Metaverse users would expect the regulations and rules of the environment be established. There is a need for the conceptualization, development, and validation of the cybersecurity index. This index will not only authenticate the metaverse platforms but will also reflect its degree of validity and safety. The incidents of bullying and fraud are increasing as more and more new users are joining metaverse platforms. The ecosystem requires behavioral measures to be taken by metaverse organizations besides functional measures such as code-based entry permissions for authentication. These initiatives would help to minimize toxic behavior by miscreants on metaverse platforms. There is also a necessity to sensitize corporate entities, particularly startups and medium-sized firms, about the dark side of the metaverse to ensure they are fully aware of the applicable rules, regulations and laws.

Based on the above discussions, the following research questions (RQs) must be explored by future researchers working in this domain:

RQ1: What should be the steps in the development of a cybersecurity index for measuring the authenticity of a metaverse platform?

RQ2: What should be the strategy of the corporate world to sensitize the masses against falling to fraud on metaverse?

RQ3: What are functional and behavioral measures to check bullying in a metaverse environment?

RQ4: What are changes required by metaverse marketplace platform developers to enhance user well-being?

## 2.13 The darkside of the metaverse today—Leighton Evans

The Metaverse refers to a future of digital media dominated by VR and AR that will involve a significant shift from activities in the physical world to virtual worlds. The eventual metaverse, if it ever exists, will be a persistent virtual world users can enter and exit at will and include a wide variety of activities, ranging from commerce to theatre to exercise to gaming. Each domain that the metaverse appropriates has already a myriad of issues and problems, and these are likely to be replicated and potentially amplified in the metaverse.
**Gaming and Metaverse** Gaming was the earliest industry where the metaverse type of mechanics was implemented. Roblox, Zepeto, and Fortnite were such popular gaming sites. The gaming sites are prone to cyberattacks to steal the user profile information besides taking away their virtual gear and earning from games like Robux, ZEMs, coins, V-Bucks, etc. (Table 3). The excessive use of metaverse platforms has led to mental health cases, particularly among children and young adults (Dwivedi et al., 2022a). Natural movement, including exercises and physical sports, has reduced due to the extreme indulgence of metaverse-based gaming platforms. Addiction to such platforms may also lead to attention deficit and eating disorders among heavy users. The excessive use of headphones and AR-VR headgear on these new-age platforms has led to an adverse neural impact on heavy users (Wells, 2021).

**Digital Marketing and Metaverse** The initial experience of firms regarding digital marketing on metaverse platforms like Decentraland and Roblox has been mixed. Many organizations had confusion over applicable attribution models and returns on investment (RoI) in terms of sales conversions. The issue of bots and impersonation on metaverse platforms, besides the growing digital divide, was another issue that needs to be addressed. The increased use of the metaverse for digital marketing, has led to increased energy consumption and thus an increased carbon footprint. Privacy is another major concern on metaverse platforms. The granularity and amount of data collected in the three-dimensional metaverse environment is much more than the traditional two-dimensional social media platforms. The tracking using digital marketing tools to steal metaverse users’ data is a real threat. Privacy in social networking platforms is a subjective phenomenon, and perception may vary as per the individual (Pandey & Gudipudi, 2019). However, metaverse platforms have to devise certain rule and protocols for ensuring users’ privacy to provide users sufficient confidence in metaverse platforms and allow them to interact freely. The metaverse has also led to increased use of NFTs and cryptocurrencies that have given rise to price speculation and increased financial risk to buyers about their future valuation (Wilson et al., 2022).

**Healthcare and Metaverse** Besides advertising, entertainment, education and healthcare are other domains where the use of metaverse platforms is expected to grow in the coming years significantly. Lack of human touch and empathy, besides privacy concerns, are leading to adoption challenges of metaverse-based healthcare delivery systems. The legal compliance and safety issues in transferring patient medical records to other departments and hospitals in a metaverse environment are yet to be navigated (Chengoden et al., 2022). Metaverse-based healthcare databases would be prone to cyberattacks which may lead to the loss of critical

patient medical records and financial details, which in turn can impact the treatment and insurance claim process. There is also reputational risk for the healthcare service provider and regulator in such violations.

### 2.12.2 Implications for Practice

The metaverse, as an idea and its implementation, is progressing to maturity. The negative aspects are part and parcel of this digital journey. Metaverse users would expect the regulations and rules of the environment be established. There is a need for the conceptualization, development, and validation of the cybersecurity index. This index will not only authenticate the metaverse platforms but will also reflect its degree of validity and safety. The incidents of bullying and fraud are increasing as more and more new users are joining metaverse platforms. The ecosystem requires behavioral measures to be taken by metaverse organizations besides functional measures such as code-based entry permissions for authentication. These initiatives would help to minimize toxic behavior by miscreants on metaverse platforms. There is also a necessity to sensitize corporate entities, particularly startups and medium-sized firms, about the dark side of the metaverse to ensure they are fully aware of the applicable rules, regulations and laws.

Based on the above discussions, the following research questions (RQs) must be explored by future researchers working in this domain:

* RQ1: What should be the steps in the development of a cybersecurity index for measuring the authenticity of a metaverse platform?

* RQ2: What should be the strategy of the corporate world to sensitize the masses against falling to fraud on metaverse?

* RQ3: What are functional and behavioral measures to check bullying in a metaverse environment?

* RQ4: What are changes required by metaverse marketplace platform developers to enhance user well-being?

## 2.13 The darkside of the metaverse today—Leighton Evans

The Metaverse refers to a future of digital media dominated by VR and AR that will involve a significant shift from activities in the physical world to virtual worlds. The eventual metaverse, if it ever exists, will be a persistent virtual world users can enter and exit at will and include a wide variety of activities, ranging from commerce to theatre to exercise to gaming. Each domain that the metaverse appropriates has already a myriad of issues and problems, and these are likely to be replicated and potentially amplified in the metaverse.
When considering the dark side of the metaverse, governance entities need to begin grappling with the consequences of what will happen if even a fraction of the metaverse vision comes to pass. The metaverse is simultaneously a return to an old-fashioned understanding of digital media and an ambitious futuristic vision which brings several new issues to the table. The metaverse is also an object that in many forms already exists. Much of the groundwork has already been established to understand what a metaverse might mean for many parts of our lives (Evans et al., 2022). There are numerous disconnected digital spaces in which people can engage in isolated practices, which the metaverse will look to join up into a unitary experience.

The metaverse will need to be a space for social interaction. It is hardly surprising that the company behind the world's largest social network Facebook—Meta is leading the charge to the metaverse. Since the emergence of Friendster more than 20 years ago, social networks have been transplanting many everyday social functions and activities from 'meatspace' to a digital space for interaction. The creation of an experiential and virtual world that can be embodied by the user is a logical next step in the social media experience. As is only too well known, existing social media environments bring a host of issues to the metaverse experience: the exploitation of users in the name of surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2018); the death of privacy (Fuchs, 2015); the manipulation of voters in 2016 (Cadwalladr & Graham-Harrison, 2018); addiction (Hou et al., 2019); a nihilistic attitude to the world (Gertz, 2018); boredom in the name of neoliberalism (Kingwell, 2019); an interface designed to make us sad (Lovink, 2019) and many other issues far too numerous to list further. Early steps to transplanting social interaction in metaverse-like environments have raised new issues. In VR, applications like VRChat equally provide an indication of how worlds like Meta's Horizons (the company's much hyped social VR platform) might be experienced. At the same time, these worlds also tell us something important about how metaverses may be experienced. The kinds of behaviour commonly seen in VRChat and other worlds (characterized by low-level trolling to serious infringements on personal space in VR and sexual harassment), raise serious questions for the social experience of the metaverse if the issues seen in other social worlds become endemic to an all-encompassing digital world. Crawford and Smith (2022) report that VRChat's lax rules has allowed children into 'virtual strip clubs'. As early as 2016, Jordan Belamire reported being groped in VR when using the social VR gaming application QuiVr on the HTC Vive (Belamire, 2016). Recently, Basu (2021) detailed how the avatar of a female beta tester was groped on Meta's Horizons platform. The induced immersion, presence and embodiment can make the experience much more painful for the victims of malicious behaviour. While avatar bodies cannot physically hurt another avatar, the perceived physicality may carry a greater threat to a user than a tweet or comment (Bailenson, 2018, p. 202).

Much like social media, digital games have a long and rich history of sustained presence as both cultural artefacts and for players of games. The notion of shared, continuous gaming experiences with other players has become an important aspect of contemporary gaming. Accordingly, the online game industry is a lucrative business, and customer loyalty over time is critical. Understanding how games maintain players' presence is therefore important as a precursor to understanding how Meta may do this with the metaverse. Games and gaming will be critical in establishing what people will do in the metaverse. It is in this light that gaming worlds may become fascinating indicators of what kind of place the metaverse would be for all. From console games online to MMORPGS, there are significant questions about the metaverse that are raised by a critical evaluation of gaming. David Sudnow (1983), when describing videogames, noted that games depict microworlds where an augmented version of the player has bodily interaction with the game. A game player engages; in an embodied manner; a game player is part of the game. This is exactly what is desired from the metaverse – engagement distributed across the body. The many digital worlds are incredibly close to the form that the metaverse will take embodied, active spaces where augmented individuals interact fully with a digital environment. The mission of the metaverse is much like McKenzie Wark's (2009) argument that the ideological consequence of games is to transform reality into a totalizing game space. While games clearly point to several things that the metaverse should and needs to do, there are also aspects of digital games which are going to be deeply problematic. The notion of playbour (Goggin, 2011; Kücklich, 2005) – playing for free or paying to play and that labour being leveraged for profit – will likely be embedded in the metaverse. The gaming industry is often characterised as a toxic, hyper-masculine culture. Anthropy (2012, p. 7) argued that game publishers perpetuate a dangerous cycle by repeatedly creating games for young men already entrenched in the existing culture of games. This culture would not be conducive to inclusivity in the metaverse. For Humphreys (2019, p. 837), the gaming industry is diminished by misogyny, making it risk adverse and marginal which is not where Meta needs to be as a company. Meta will also need to challenge some dominant ideas and ideological constructions in games. According to Chess (2017) the idea of 'player one' is a male, white, affluent, able-bodied, and heterosexual consumer of commercial releases. Player two is a woman that enjoys mobile games. This would not be a tenable position for the metaverse.

The exploitation of users is a common theme which may characterise the metaverse. The metaverse could simultaneously offer users freedom to build their own parts of a virtual world while also exploiting their labour. The impression given by promotional materials is that we shall be presented with a fully formed, fully realized world. In other words, the metaverse will provide a vast and expansive playground

<figure><img src="image_23.png" /></figure>
When considering the dark side of the metaverse, governance entities need to begin grappling with the consequences of what will happen if even a fraction of the metaverse vision comes to pass. The metaverse is simultaneously a return to an old-fashioned understanding of digital media and an ambitious futuristic vision which brings several new issues to the table. The metaverse is also an object that in many forms already exists. Much of the groundwork has already been established to understand what a metaverse might mean for many parts of our lives (Evans et al., 2022). There are numerous disconnected digital spaces in which people can engage in isolated practices, which the metaverse will look to join up into a unitary experience.

The metaverse will need to be a space for social interaction. It is hardly surprising that the company behind the world's largest social network Facebook—Meta is leading the charge to the metaverse. Since the emergence of Friendster more than 20 years ago, social networks have been transplanting many everyday social functions and activities from 'meatspace' to a digital space for interaction. The creation of an experiential and virtual world that can be embodied by the user is a logical next step in the social media experience. As is only too well known, existing social media environments bring a host of issues to the metaverse experience: the exploitation of users in the name of surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2018); the death of privacy (Fuchs, 2015); the manipulation of voters in 2016 (Cadwalladr & Graham-Harrison, 2018); addiction (Hou et al., 2019); a nihilistic attitude to the world (Gertz, 2018); boredom in the name of neoliberalism (Kingwell, 2019); an interface designed to make us sad (Lovink, 2019) and many other issues far too numerous to list further. Early steps to transplanting social interaction in metaverse-like environments have raised new issues. In VR, applications like VRChat equally provide an indication of how worlds like Meta's Horizons (the company's much hyped social VR platform) might be experienced. At the same time, these worlds also tell us something important about how metaverses may be experienced. The kinds of behaviour commonly seen in VRChat and other worlds (characterized by low-level trolling to serious infringements on personal space in VR and sexual harassment), raise serious questions for the social experience of the metaverse if the issues seen in other social worlds become endemic to an all-encompassing digital world. Crawford and Smith (2022) report that VRChat's lax rules has allowed children into 'virtual strip clubs'. As early as 2016, Jordan Belamire reported being groped in VR when using the social VR gaming application QuiVr on the HTC Vive (Belamire, 2016). Recently, Basu (2021) detailed how the avatar of a female beta tester was groped on Meta's Horizons platform. The induced immersion, presence and embodiment can make the experience much more painful for the victims of malicious behaviour. While avatar bodies cannot physically hurt another avatar, the perceived physicality may carry a greater threat to a user than a tweet or comment (Bailenson, 2018, p. 202).

Much like social media, digital games have a long and rich history of sustained presence as both cultural artefacts and for players of games. The notion of shared, continuous gaming experiences with other players has become an important aspect of contemporary gaming. Accordingly, the online game industry is a lucrative business, and customer loyalty over time is critical. Understanding how games maintain players' presence is therefore important as a precursor to understanding how Meta may do this with the metaverse. Games and gaming will be critical in establishing what people will do in the metaverse. It is in this light that gaming worlds may become fascinating indicators of what kind of place the metaverse would be for all. From console games online to MMORPGS, there are significant questions about the metaverse that are raised by a critical evaluation of gaming. David Sudnow (1983), when describing videogames, noted that games depict microworlds where an augmented version of the player has bodily interaction with the game. A game player engages; in an embodied manner; a game player is part of the game. This is exactly what is desired from the metaverse – engagement distributed across the body. The many digital worlds are incredibly close to the form that the metaverse will take embodied, active spaces where augmented individuals interact fully with a digital environment. The mission of the metaverse is much like McKenzie Wark's (2009) argument that the ideological consequence of games is to transform reality into a totalizing game space. While games clearly point to several things that the metaverse should and needs to do, there are also aspects of digital games which are going to be deeply problematic. The notion of playbour (Goggin, 2011; Kücklich, 2005) – playing for free or paying to play and that labour being leveraged for profit – will likely be embedded in the metaverse. The gaming industry is often characterised as a toxic, hyper-masculine culture. Anthropy (2012, p. 7) argued that game publishers perpetuate a dangerous cycle by repeatedly creating games for young men already entrenched in the existing culture of games. This culture would not be conducive to inclusivity in the metaverse. For Humphreys (2019, p. 837), the gaming industry is diminished by misogyny, making it risk adverse and marginal which is not where Meta needs to be as a company. Meta will also need to challenge some dominant ideas and ideological constructions in games. According to Chess (2017) the idea of 'player one' is a male, white, affluent, able-bodied, and heterosexual consumer of commercial releases. Player two is a woman that enjoys mobile games. This would not be a tenable position for the metaverse.

The exploitation of users is a common theme which may characterise the metaverse. The metaverse could simultaneously offer users freedom to build their own parts of a virtual world while also exploiting their labour. The impression given by promotional materials is that we shall be presented with a fully formed, fully realized world. In other words, the metaverse will provide a vast and expansive playground

<figure><img src="image_24.png" /></figure>
for users to explore. The history and business models of the protagonists in this space, however, suggests otherwise. The content of social media has been us; user generated content (UGC) both of and by ourselves, which is then sold back to us in a recursive feedback loop of commodification and commercialization. In the metaverse, we can expect more of the same – building our own materials much as we do in social media, to be used for likes and comments from others that may take a different expressive form but will be for the same financial gain. Yet, there are also nuanced differences in this virtual environment that warrant circumspection. As demonstrated by Zuckerberg's presentation metaverse in October 2021, that detailed Meta's VR social platform Horizon, these worlds are not simply built by the communications of users, but more importantly the building of these spaces are physically performed through virtual tools that users can employ to construct and develop these interlinked virtual spaces. Digital environments already exist which illustrate the issues that will arise from UGC being a fundamental part of the metaverse. In particular, the notion of the exploitation of unpaid labour is critically important here. In particular, there have been several examples of copyright infringing UGC which has contributed to exploitative child labour practices and the creation of unsafe digital environments on Roblox (Parkin, 2022). A metaverse might accelerate this on a vast scale.

Being in a metaverse will have to afford the possibility of people meeting one another, dating, forming a relationship and maintaining that relationship. The impact of applications and social media features on dating are already well documented. One may fear the 'Tinder-isation' of dating, but the metaverse may make this the de-facto method of choosing and meeting a partner. As Bergström (2021) argues at length, the mediation of dating via applications has led to a privatisation of intimacy. The metaverse will need functionality for embodied avatars to experience intimacy. Whether this is implied or actual will be a function of the equipment available for the user. One can already envision a multi-tiered hierarchy of intimacy, where wealthy users can afford sophisticated haptic systems designed for physical intimacy while basic users have little but their words and the non-verbal communications of their avatar to express their emotions. Less affluent users would be explicitly limited in their ability to communicate with others, and in doing so, experience lives that feel more meaningful. In a world where the perception of the platform and advertising concerns will be of paramount importance and arousal is intensified by the use of VR in particular (Evans, 2022), it is possible that some visions of the metaverse will bring with them a new puritanism around sex, sexual identity, and the expression of sexual behaviour between users.

## 2.14 Children, Young People and the Metaverse—
Nina Jane Patel

Technology is a part of the everyday lives of children and young people (CYP), influenced by parents, educators and many other social interactions (Tootell et al., 2017). As the next evolution of technology, the Metaverse, develops, the early-stage activations are attractive and seemingly designed to engage with younger generations such as Z and/or Alpha (Dalot, 2018).

Indeed, technology firms are jumping on the metaverse trend—Nvidia Omniverse, Meta Horizon, Fortnite (Epic Games) and Roblox to name a few (Kim, 2021) highlighting opportunities and efforts to gain increased engagement with younger generations. Brand activations are often aimed to engage in fun, entertaining ways; Oreo introduced “Oreoverse” an Oreo-themed world of games and cookies on Meta Horizons (Baar, 2023), Nike built ‘Airtopia’, a kids’ world in the metaverse, recently, children fashion brand Balabala announced its entry into the metaverse, creating a hyper-realistic digital brand ambassador named ‘Rainy’, other kids’ brands, including Hasbro and Mattel, have also announced their Metaverse strategies (Shaikh, 2022) as have Lego and Disney (Solis & Danise, 2022). It’s all fun and games, but there are huge trust issues when it comes to technology companies and children (Res tuccia & Tracy, 2023). England’s Commissioner for Children made a series of worrying discoveries during the course of their research, making clear the urgent need to protect children from harms online (Children’s Commissioner for England, 2022). Not only did the commissioner find that it is “quite likely” for eight year olds to come across pornography online, but also learned of the “insidious” violent content that CYP are confronted within current digital environments (Turner et al., 2022).

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN Con-vention on the Rights of the Child - UNICEF UK, 1992) has 54 articles that cover all aspects of a child's life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children everywhere are entitled to;

* the right to relax and play (Article 31)

* the right to freedom of expression (Article 13)

* the right to be safe from violence (Article 19)

In the context of the Metaverse and its vision of convergence of the physical and digital (Li et al., 2022) and its cumulative impact on CYP's futures; their relationships, education, careers, hopes, dreams, aspirations and how they see their life unfolding – considerate methods of the Metaverse and its integration into the lives of CYP is vital and urgent.

### 2.14.1 The Illusion of Falsity

The Metaverse is a perpetual and persistent multi-user environment that combines physical reality and digital
for users to explore. The history and business models of the protagonists in this space, however, suggests otherwise. The content of social media has been us; user generated content (UGC) both of and by ourselves, which is then sold back to us in a recursive feedback loop of commodification and commercialization. In the metaverse, we can expect more of the same – building our own materials much as we do in social media, to be used for likes and comments from others that may take a different expressive form but will be for the same financial gain. Yet, there are also nuanced differences in this virtual environment that warrant circumspection. As demonstrated by Zuckerberg’s presentation metaverse in October 2021, that detailed Meta’s VR social platform Horizon, these worlds are not simply built by the communications of users, but more importantly the building of these spaces are physically performed through virtual tools that users can employ to construct and develop these interlinked virtual spaces. Digital environments already exist which illustrate the issues that will arise from UGC being a fundamental part of the metaverse. In particular, the notion of the exploitation of unpaid labour is critically important here. In particular, there have been several examples of copyright infringing UGC which has contributed to exploitative child labour practices and the creation of unsafe digital environments on Roblox (Parkin, 2022). A metaverse might accelerate this on a vast scale.

Being in a metaverse will have to afford the possibility of people meeting one another, dating, forming a relationship and maintaining that relationship. The impact of applications and social media features on dating are already well documented. One may fear the ‘Tinder-isation’ of dating, but the metaverse may make this the de-facto method of choosing and meeting a partner. As Bergström (2021) argues at length, the mediation of dating via applications has led to a privatisation of intimacy. The metaverse will need functionality for embodied avatars to experience intimacy. Whether this is implied or actual will be a function of the equipment available for the user. One can already envision a multi-tiered hierarchy of intimacy, where wealthy users can afford sophisticated haptic systems designed for physical intimacy while basic users have little but their words and the non-verbal communications of their avatar to express their emotions. Less affluent users would be explicitly limited in their ability to communicate with others, and in doing so, experience lives that feel more meaningful. In a world where the perception of the platform and advertising concerns will be of paramount importance and arousal is intensified by the use of VR in particular (Evans, 2022), it is possible that some visions of the metaverse will bring with them a new puritanism around sex, sexual identity, and the expression of sexual behaviour between users.

## 2.14 Children, Young People and the Metaverse—
Nina Jane Patel

Technology is a part of the everyday lives of children and young people (CYP), influenced by parents, educators and many other social interactions (Tootell et al., 2017). As the next evolution of technology, the Metaverse, develops, the early-stage activations are attractive and seemingly designed to engage with younger generations such as Z and/or Alpha (Dalot, 2018).

Indeed, technology firms are jumping on the metaverse trend—Nvidia Omniverse, Meta Horizon, Fortnite (Epic Games) and Roblox to name a few (Kim, 2021) highlighting opportunities and efforts to gain increased engagement with younger generations. Brand activations are often aimed to engage in fun, entertaining ways; Oreo introduced “Oreoverse” an Oreo-themed world of games and cookies on Meta Horizons (Baar, 2023), Nike built ‘Airtopia’, a kids’ world in the metaverse, recently, children fashion brand Balabala announced its entry into the metaverse, creating a hyper-realistic digital brand ambassador named ‘Rainy’, other kids’ brands, including Hasbro and Mattel, have also announced their Metaverse strategies (Shaikh, 2022) as have Lego and Disney (Solis & Danise, 2022). It’s all fun and games, but there are huge trust issues when it comes to technology companies and children (Res tuccia & Tracy, 2023). England’s Commissioner for Children made a series of worrying discoveries during the course of their research, making clear the urgent need to protect children from harms online (Children’s Commissioner for England, 2022). Not only did the commissioner find that it is “quite likely” for eight year olds to come across pornography online, but also learned of the “insidious” violent content that CYP are confronted within current digital environments (Turner et al., 2022).

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN Con-vention on the Rights of the Child - UNICEF UK, 1992) has 54 articles that cover all aspects of a child’s life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children everywhere are entitled to;

* the right to relax and play (Article 31)

* the right to freedom of expression (Article 13)

* the right to be safe from violence (Article 19)

In the context of the Metaverse and its vision of convergence of the physical and digital (Li et al., 2022) and its cumulative impact on CYP’s futures; their relationships, education, careers, hopes, dreams, aspirations and how they see their life unfolding – considerate methods of the Metaverse and its integration into the lives of CYP is vital and urgent.

### 2.14.1 The Illusion of Falsity

The Metaverse is a perpetual and persistent multi-user environment that combines physical reality and digital
virtuality. It is based on the convergence of technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Augmented Reality (AR), Digital Twin, and Blockchain, that enable multisensory interactions with digital objects, virtual environments, and people (Mourtzis et al., 2022). The components of the Metaverse, particularly virtual reality (VR) progressively extend CYP's view of physical reality, for instance by altering their identity and digital appearance via avatars; by immersing them into synthetic environments to engage with other humans; or, in the future, by generating a sense of touch within their brain when they interact with a digital object (Hilken et al., 2017). These new technological components that comprise the metaverse offer an opportunity for CYP to engage in networked environments that can accommodate compelling synthetic virtual engagements offering viscerally heightened experiences, authentic content and social meaning (Park & Kim, 2022).

For example, evidence suggests that VR experiences can lead to positive social and psychological outcomes (Markowitz & Bailenson, 2021) and deepening learning of societal issues (Markowitz et al., 2018) and building empathy (Herrera et al., 2018). Furthermore, research shows that VR provides high fidelity sensory information and that the brain often treats a virtual experience in a similar manner to a real experience (Blascovich et al., 2002).

Technology developers have identified that success will depend on the acceptance that the virtual and physical are sensorily similar and that the metaverse thus represents a genuine reality in which users can socialise, work, and play (Golf-Papez et al., 2022). In other words, to be compelling, the metaverse will need to suspend the disbelief and abandon the notion that synthetic experiences are inherently “false” to prevent discounting the value of a technology-enhanced reality (Hilken et al., 2017). While digital experiences can be psychologically real to the person immersed in the metaverse (Wolfendale, 2007), it is often discounted by outside observers because no activity takes place in the physical world. Such discounting stems from traditional views of falsity, which assume that only physical experiences (i.e., those derived using unaided biological senses like sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell) are real (Ross & Ward, 1996) and that synthetic, digital forms of experience are imaginary, inconsequential and are not real.

Problems lie ahead if we underestimate the psychological impact of the convergence of physical and virtual worlds while the lines between are increasingly blurred as fidelity improves (Heller, 2020). For CYP, the problem with the traditional perspective of falsity is that it denies the authentic sense stimulation created by immersion, presence and embodiment (Park & Kim, 2022) in the multi-sensory synthetic metaverse. CYP who adopt an alternate identity using an avatar (e.g., to become a superhero-like character instead of their usual physical self) likely integrate the qualities

of this avatar into their persona and use those qualities to achieve goals and objectives in the metaverse otherwise not possible in physical reality. The potential attachment to metaverse experiences and interactions as it can be felt as very real and it holds value to CYP as it is expressive of self-identity and self-conception and should therefore be accorded the moral significance we give to real-life attachments that play a similar role (Wolfendale, 2007).

I put forth that to naively underestimate this alternative persona for the child or young person along with its related goals and objectives of human interaction, connection and communication as false, fails to appreciate the implications on psychological and developmental areas of concern, wherein digital relationships acquire meaning from child's perspective. Therefore, the traditional view of falsity of the digital realm is inherently problematic.

### 2.14.2 Empowering CYP in the Metaverse

A more nuanced perspective on falsity, for stakeholders including educators, parents/caregivers and regulators, is one that acknowledges that metaverse experiences will be felt, fully immersed present and embodied and that this immersion will deliver an experience that is equal in value to the physical experience.

The continuation of the illusion of falsity will support the continued disassociation and online harms and deviance experienced by CYP in the current state of the internet.

Alarmingly the CC-Driver 2021 report, which is one of the largest studies to date exploring youth cyber criminality and is informed by 5 key disciplines: cyberpsychology, criminology, psychology, neuroscience, and digital anthropology, demonstrates and confirms what is widely known, that young people are immersed in technology and our approach to supporting CYP with their relationship to and within technology needs to shift e.g. 47.76% of CYP report to have engaged in a behaviour that could be considered criminal and offensive when online (Davidson, et al., 2022). Research shows that adolescents participate in cyberdeviance, risky or harmful behaviours and cyber crime—1 in 2 respondents (children) watch pornography online, 1 in 5 participate in sexting, 1 in 7 have self-generated sexual images and are participating in cybercrimes such as online harassment, cyberbullying, revenge porn, identify theft and racist/xenophobic speech (Davidson, et al., 2022).

Furthermore, the anatomical, physiological, and developmental changes which arise as children mature through childhood and adolescence support the need to develop new technologies that meet the specific requirements of CYP. Failing to involve CYP during the development of technology increases the risk that the outcome falls short of their expectations and needs, leading to rejection of novel interventions (Wheeler et al., 2022). The traditional view of falsity of digital interactions fails to recognize its potential to
virtuality. It is based on the convergence of technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Augmented Reality (AR), Digital Twin, and Blockchain, that enable multisensory interactions with digital objects, virtual environments, and people (Mourtzis et al., 2022). The components of the Metaverse, particularly virtual reality (VR) progressively extend CYP’s view of physical reality, for instance by altering their identity and digital appearance via avatars; by immersing them into synthetic environments to engage with other humans; or, in the future, by generating a sense of touch within their brain when they interact with a digital object (Hilken et al., 2017). These new technological components that comprise the metaverse offer an opportunity for CYP to engage in networked environments that can accommodate compelling synthetic virtual engagements offering viscerally heightened experiences, authentic content and social meaning (Park & Kim, 2022).

For example, evidence suggests that VR experiences can lead to positive social and psychological outcomes (Markowitz & Bailenson, 2021) and deepening learning of societal issues (Markowitz et al., 2018) and building empathy (Herrera et al., 2018). Furthermore, research shows that VR provides high fidelity sensory information and that the brain often treats a virtual experience in a similar manner to a real experience (Blascovich et al., 2002).

Technology developers have identified that success will depend on the acceptance that the virtual and physical are sensorily similar and that the metaverse thus represents a genuine reality in which users can socialise, work, and play (Golf-Papez et al., 2022). In other words, to be compelling, the metaverse will need to suspend the disbelief and abandon the notion that synthetic experiences are inherently “false” to prevent discounting the value of a technology-enhanced reality (Hilken et al., 2017). While digital experiences can be psychologically real to the person immersed in the metaverse (Wolfendale, 2007), it is often discounted by outside observers because no activity takes place in the physical world. Such discounting stems from traditional views of falsity, which assume that only physical experiences (i.e., those derived using unaided biological senses like sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell) are real (Ross & Ward, 1996) and that synthetic, digital forms of experience are imaginary, inconsequential and are not real.

Problems lie ahead if we underestimate the psychological impact of the convergence of physical and virtual worlds while the lines between are increasingly blurred as fidelity improves (Heller, 2020). For CYP, the problem with the traditional perspective of falsity is that it denies the authentic sense stimulation created by immersion, presence and embodiment (Park & Kim, 2022) in the multi-sensory synthetic metaverse. CYP who adopt an alternate identity using an avatar (e.g., to become a superhero-like character instead of their usual physical self) likely integrate the qualities

of this avatar into their persona and use those qualities to achieve goals and objectives in the metaverse otherwise not possible in physical reality. The potential attachment to metaverse experiences and interactions as it can be felt as very real and it holds value to CYP as it is expressive of self-identity and self-conception and should therefore be accorded the moral significance we give to real-life attachments that play a similar role (Wolfendale, 2007).

I put forth that to naively underestimate this alternative persona for the child or young person along with its related goals and objectives of human interaction, connection and communication as false, fails to appreciate the implications on psychological and developmental areas of concern, wherein digital relationships acquire meaning from child's perspective. Therefore, the traditional view of falsity of the digital realm is inherently problematic.

### 2.14.2 Empowering CYP in the Metaverse

A more nuanced perspective on falsity, for stakeholders including educators, parents/caregivers and regulators, is one that acknowledges that metaverse experiences will be felt, fully immersed present and embodied and that this immersion will deliver an experience that is equal in value to the physical experience.

The continuation of the illusion of falsity will support the continued disassociation and online harms and deviance experienced by CYP in the current state of the internet.

Alarmingly the CC-Driver 2021 report, which is one of the largest studies to date exploring youth cyber criminality and is informed by 5 key disciplines: cyberpsychology, criminology, psychology, neuroscience, and digital anthropology, demonstrates and confirms what is widely known, that young people are immersed in technology and our approach to supporting CYP with their relationship to and within technology needs to shift e.g. 47.76% of CYP report to have engaged in a behaviour that could be considered criminal and offensive when online (Davidson, et al., 2022). Research shows that adolescents participate in cyberdeviance, risky or harmful behaviours and cyber crime—1 in 2 respondents (children) watch pornography online, 1 in 5 participate in sexting, 1 in 7 have self-generated sexual images and are participating in cybercrimes such as online harassment, cyberbullying, revenge porn, identify theft and racist/xenophobic speech (Davidson, et al., 2022).

Furthermore, the anatomical, physiological, and developmental changes which arise as children mature through childhood and adolescence support the need to develop new technologies that meet the specific requirements of CYP. Failing to involve CYP during the development of technology increases the risk that the outcome falls short of their expectations and needs, leading to rejection of novel interventions (Wheeler et al., 2022). The traditional view of falsity of digital interactions fails to recognize its potential to

<figure><img src="image_25.png" /></figure>
empower CYP and to unlock unique opportunities for value creation in the metaverse while building bridges between the physical and digital worlds to support CYP to create healthy relationships with and within technology.

### 2.14.3 Summary

The metaverse is upon us. It is presented as the biggest opportunity for modern business since the creation of the internet (Charlton, 2022). Soon it will be as omnipresent, for CYP, as TikTok, Instagram, and Meta (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2022). CYP will form friendships, develop relationships, play, learn, explore, be creative and essentially grow up with the Metaverse. Childhood has long been identified as a key transitional developmental period and it is imperative to develop an understanding of how the medium of the Metaverse impacts CYP's psychological and physiological development.

It is essential that future research and resulting products that are delivered into the hands of CYP focus on better understanding the benefits and limitations of Metaverse technology components to ensure that the technology is fit for purpose and does more good than harm.

> "A young child, of 8 years old, asks her mother "Is the metaverse real?"

> To answer this, I suggest that we reconsider the acceptance of digital falsity. It is vital that we map out a future where we develop responsible strategies to support the long term development and psychological well being of CYP as they are raised with the metaverse.

### 3.1.1 Multiple Physical, Mental and Social Consequences of the Metaverse

The metaverse can give rise to a number of adverse physical, mental and social consequences. Such effects have been highlighted in Sections 2.3.2, 2.1.1, 2.9.1 and 2.14. Drawing on lessons from other technologies, Section 2.9.1 has pointed out the possibility that technologies used in the metaverse can lead to adverse health and emotional consequences. Section 2.1.1 discusses several adverse effects of XR devices on human health, such as vision problems (Rauschnabel et al., 2022b) as well as increased stress and psychological and physiological discomforts. It is argued in Section 2.3.2 that if the metaverse involves replacing physical activities by virtual activities, metaverse users may experience adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Section 2.3.2 highlighted that increased metaverse adoption will likely lead to a decrease in social interactions.

### 3.1.2 More Adverse Effects on Children and Adolescents

More adverse effects on children and adolescents has been a common theme of various contributions in this paper. As discussed in Section 2.13, online virtual world platform VRChat has allegedly allowed children to enter into ‘virtual strip clubs’ due to the lax rules of the platform. Section 2.1.1 and 2.1.14 noted that children are more likely to be addicted to the metaverse. As Sections 2.5.1.6, 2.8.1, 2.9.1 and 2.11.5 make clear, cyberbullying (also referred to as metabullying in Section 2.1.3) and harassment are likely to be serious

<figure><img src="image_24.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_25.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_26.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_27.png" /></figure>

DALL·E—AI system that creates realistic images and art from a description in natural language—when prompted with “an oil painting of a young child, of 8 years old, asking her mother “is the metaverse real?””

adverse effects that children and adolescents may face in the metaverse. Furthermore, as metaverse immersive technologies engage different senses, the effects on victims are likely to be amplified.

# 3 Discussion and Implications

## 3.1 Synthesis and Identification of Common Themes

In this section, we first identify main themes that emerge from the contributions in this work.

### 3.1.3 Security and Privacy Issues

Another common theme is that metaverse users are likely to face security and privacy challenges that are different from the non-metaverse Internet. Section 2.10.2.1 emphasizes the importance of addressing security and privacy concerns in the metaverse in order to gain consumer trust.
empower CYP and to unlock unique opportunities for value creation in the metaverse while building bridges between the physical and digital worlds to support CYP to create healthy relationships with and within technology.

### 2.14.3 Summary

The metaverse is upon us. It is presented as the biggest opportunity for modern business since the creation of the internet (Charlton, 2022). Soon it will be as omnipresent, for CYP, as TikTok, Instagram, and Meta (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2022). CYP will form friendships, develop relationships, play, learn, explore, be creative and essentially grow up with the Metaverse. Childhood has long been identified as a key transitional developmental period and it is imperative to develop an understanding of how the medium of the Metaverse impacts CYP's psychological and physiological development.

It is essential that future research and resulting products that are delivered into the hands of CYP focus on better understanding the benefits and limitations of Metaverse technology components to ensure that the technology is fit for purpose and does more good than harm.

> “A young child, of 8 years old, asks her mother “Is the metaverse real?””

To answer this, I suggest that we reconsider the acceptance of digital falsity. It is vital that we map out a future where we develop responsible strategies to support the long term development and psychological well being of CYP as they are raised with the metaverse.

### 3.1.1 Multiple Physical, Mental and Social Consequences of the Metaverse

The metaverse can give rise to a number of adverse physical, mental and social consequences. Such effects have been highlighted in Sections 2.3.2, 2.1.1, 2.9.1 and 2.14. Drawing on lessons from other technologies, Section 2.9.1 has pointed out the possibility that technologies used in the metaverse can lead to adverse health and emotional consequences. Section 2.1.1 discusses several adverse effects of XR devices on human health, such as vision problems (Rauschnabel et al., 2022b) as well as increased stress and psychological and physiological discomforts. It is argued in Section 2.3.2 that if the metaverse involves replacing physical activities by virtual activities, metaverse users may experience adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Section 2.3.2 highlighted that increased metaverse adoption will likely lead to a decrease in social interactions.

### 3.1.2 More Adverse Effects on Children and Adolescents

More adverse effects on children and adolescents has been a common theme of various contributions in this paper. As discussed in Section 2.13, online virtual world platform VRChat has allegedly allowed children to enter into ‘virtual strip clubs’ due to the lax rules of the platform. Section 2.1.1 and 2.1.14 noted that children are more likely to be addicted to the metaverse. As Sections 2.5.1.6, 2.8.1, 2.9.1 and 2.11.5 make clear, cyberbullying (also referred to as metabullying in Section 2.1.3) and harassment are likely to be serious

<figure><img src="image_26.png" /></figure>

DALL·E—AI system that creates realistic images and art from a description in natural language—when prompted with “an oil painting of a young child, of 8 years old, asking her mother “is the metaverse real?””

adverse effects that children and adolescents may face in the metaverse. Furthermore, as metaverse immersive technologies engage different senses, the effects on victims are likely to be amplified.

## 3 Discussion and Implications

### 3.1 Synthesis and Identification of Common Themes

In this section, we first identify main themes that emerge from the contributions in this work.

### 3.1.3 Security and Privacy Issues

Another common theme is that metaverse users are likely to face security and privacy challenges that are different from the non-metaverse Internet. Section 2.10.2.1 emphasizes the importance of addressing security and privacy concerns in the metaverse in order to gain consumer trust.
Due to some unique aspects of the metaverse, Section 2.12.2 has called for the development of a cybersecurity index for measuring a metaverse platform’s authenticity. As reported in 2.12.1.2, some metaverse platforms such as Roblox have faced cyberattacks in which criminals have stolen the virtual currency Robux from individual accounts and attempted to launder this via other more mainstream cryptocurrencies. Some of the security challenges can be attributed to design issues. As explained in Section 2.5, the operational technology used in the metaverse lacks any design guidelines for cybersecurity and privacy.

It is also important to note here that large language models (LLMs) or generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools such as ChatGPT (for further details about ChatGPT refer to Dwivedi et al., 2023c) have reduced the entry barriers for cybercriminals, which is further likely to increase cyberthreats facing the metaverse. Cybercriminals are reported to be using ChatGPT to create new Trojans. According to cybersecurity researchers, many cybercriminals with no software development or programming skills had been using OpenAI’s technologies for malicious purposes (Kshetri, 2023a, b).

Sections 2.1.3 and 2.2. note that the metaverse makes it possible for marketers to track the movements of eye, pupil and other body parts (Techtarget, 2022) as well as the emotional aspects of consumer behavior, which provide more sensitive personal information and hence more severe consequences of privacy violations. Section 2.4.2 provides further insights into this phenomenon by focusing on the roles of AI algorithms in enabling the measurement of indicators that are currently untrackable such as the movements of legs (Winkler et al., 2022).

### 3.1.4 Regulatory and Governance Gaps

As emphasized by prior research, regulations related to privacy, security and other aspects of the metaverse need to be updated to minimize various risks (Hughes et al., 2023; Polyviou & Pappas, 2022). Consistent with this idea, several contributions (e.g., Sections 2.1.2, 2.4, 2.7, 2.9, 2.9.1 and 2.11.2) have identified regulatory and governance gaps in the current metaverse. As Sections 2.7 and 2.9 explain, such gaps make it hard to monitor and regulate offensive behaviors in the metaverse. Section 2.11.2 describes how the existing regulatory gaps make it possible for marketers to collect new types of data generated by the human body that are not regulated and monitored.

In order to bridge this gap, Section 2.1.2 emphasizes the importance of well-defined regulations to govern the metaverse. As Section 2.9.1 notes, such regulations are especially necessary to protect vulnerable groups such as children. Section 2.4 discusses the downsides of early (over)

regulations and argues that investments in research and education might be more effective approaches.

## 3.2 Research Propositions

In this section, we analyze the key darkverse trends discussed in this article and develop some propositions.

### 3.2.1 Consumers’ Increased Vulnerability to Manipulation and Exploitation

It is noted in Sections 2.8.2 and 2.13 that consumers in the metaverse face higher threats of being manipulated and exploited than the non-metaverse Internet. Section 2.13 specifically warns about more adverse impacts of surveillance capitalism in the metaverse. AI in the metaverse makes it easier to access user-related information, which will increase consumers’ vulnerability to manipulation by organizations (Henz, 2022). Mathematician, logician and cryptographer, Alan Turing stated that a human-level AI’s ultimate test would be to successfully fool consumers into believing that the AI is human. It is also argued that the goal of VR and AR technologies in the metaverse is to fool the senses by making computer-generated content seem like real-world experiences. As explained in Section 2.9.1, XR technologies make users believe that what they are experiencing is psychologically genuine. The above discussion suggests the following:

P1. *The metaverse will increase consumers' vulnerability to manipulation and exploitation by legitimate organizations and illegitimate bad actors.*

### 3.2.2 More Negative Effects of Offensive Behaviors in the Metaverse

Sections 2.5.1.6, 2.8.1, 2.9.1 and 2.13 above highlighted the increasing prevalence of offensive acts such as cyberbullying and harassment in the metaverse (Henz, 2022; Qasem et al., 2022; Wiederhold, 2022a, b). While these offenses also take place in the non-metaverse Internet, they have been found to result in more negative effects on the victims in the metaverse. Metaverse technologies such as VR, engage senses such as sight, sound, smell, and touch. This means that the victims of offensive acts such as cyberbullying and harassment are likely to feel that they are truly there (Blackwell et al., 2019). Due to the immersive nature of metaverse technologies such as VR, the effects of such offenses are more comparable to real-world incidents than similar offenses that take place in the non-metaverse Internet (Kothgassner et al., 2017; Wiederhold, 2022a, b). The above discussion leads to the following proposition:

<figure><img src="image_28.png" /></figure>
Due to some unique aspects of the metaverse, Section 2.12.2 has called for the development of a cybersecurity index for measuring a metaverse platform’s authenticity. As reported in 2.12.1.2, some metaverse platforms such as Roblox have faced cyberattacks in which criminals have stolen the virtual currency Robux from individual accounts and attempted to launder this via other more mainstream cryptocurrencies. Some of the security challenges can be attributed to design issues. As explained in Section 2.5, the operational technology used in the metaverse lacks any design guidelines for cybersecurity and privacy.

It is also important to note here that large language models (LLMs) or generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools such as ChatGPT (for further details about ChatGPT refer to Dwivedi et al., 2023c) have reduced the entry barriers for cybercriminals, which is further likely to increase cyberthreats facing the metaverse. Cybercriminals are reported to be using ChatGPT to create new Trojans. According to cybersecurity researchers, many cybercriminals with no software development or programming skills had been using OpenAI’s technologies for malicious purposes (Kshetri, 2023a, b).

Sections 2.1.3 and 2.2. note that the metaverse makes it possible for marketers to track the movements of eye, pupil and other body parts (Techtarget, 2022) as well as the emotional aspects of consumer behavior, which provide more sensitive personal information and hence more severe consequences of privacy violations. Section 2.4.2 provides further insights into this phenomenon by focusing on the roles of AI algorithms in enabling the measurement of indicators that are currently untrackable such as the movements of legs (Winkler et al., 2022).

### 3.1.4 Regulatory and Governance Gaps

As emphasized by prior research, regulations related to privacy, security and other aspects of the metaverse need to be updated to minimize various risks (Hughes et al., 2023; Polyviou & Pappas, 2022). Consistent with this idea, several contributions (e.g., Sections 2.1.2, 2.4, 2.7, 2.9, 2.9.1 and 2.11.2) have identified regulatory and governance gaps in the current metaverse. As Sections 2.7 and 2.9 explain, such gaps make it hard to monitor and regulate offensive behaviors in the metaverse. Section 2.11.2 describes how the existing regulatory gaps make it possible for marketers to collect new types of data generated by the human body that are not regulated and monitored.

In order to bridge this gap, Section 2.1.2 emphasizes the importance of well-defined regulations to govern the metaverse. As Section 2.9.1 notes, such regulations are especially necessary to protect vulnerable groups such as children. Section 2.4 discusses the downsides of early (over)

regulations and argues that investments in research and education might be more effective approaches.

## 3.2 Research Propositions

In this section, we analyze the key darkverse trends discussed in this article and develop some propositions.

### 3.2.1 Consumers’ Increased Vulnerability to Manipulation and Exploitation

It is noted in Sections 2.8.2 and 2.13 that consumers in the metaverse face higher threats of being manipulated and exploited than the non-metaverse Internet. Section 2.13 specifically warns about more adverse impacts of surveillance capitalism in the metaverse. AI in the metaverse makes it easier to access user-related information, which will increase consumers’ vulnerability to manipulation by organizations (Henz, 2022). Mathematician, logician and cryptographer, Alan Turing stated that a human-level AI’s ultimate test would be to successfully fool consumers into believing that the AI is human. It is also argued that the goal of VR and AR technologies in the metaverse is to fool the senses by making computer-generated content seem like real-world experiences. As explained in Section 2.9.1, XR technologies make users believe that what they are experiencing is psychologically genuine. The above discussion suggests the following:

P1. *The metaverse will increase consumers' vulnerability to manipulation and exploitation by legitimate organizations and illegitimate bad actors.*

### 3.2.2 More Negative Effects of Offensive Behaviors in the Metaverse

Sections 2.5.1.6, 2.8.1, 2.9.1 and 2.13 above highlighted the increasing prevalence of offensive acts such as cyberbullying and harassment in the metaverse (Henz, 2022; Qasem et al., 2022; Wiederhold, 2022a, b). While these offenses also take place in the non-metaverse Internet, they have been found to result in more negative effects on the victims in the metaverse. Metaverse technologies such as VR, engage senses such as sight, sound, smell, and touch. This means that the victims of offensive acts such as cyberbullying and harassment are likely to feel that they are truly there (Blackwell et al., 2019). Due to the immersive nature of metaverse technologies such as VR, the effects of such offenses are more comparable to real-world incidents than similar offenses that take place in the non-metaverse Internet (Kothgassner et al., 2017; Wiederhold, 2022a, b). The above discussion leads to the following proposition:

<figure><img src="image_27.png" /></figure>
P2. *Offenses such as cyberbullying and sexual harassment are likely to have more negative effects on the metaverse compared to a non-metaverse environment.*

### 3.2.3 Policy Makers’ and Law Enforcement Agencies’ Lack of Preparedness

The issues of jurisdiction and territoriality to fight online crime and fraud has not been resolved even for the current version of the internet (Cross, 2019). There are also issues related to the conflicts of laws (Clifford Chance, 2022).

These challenges are even more pronounced for the metaverse due to higher degree of interaction and user immersion (Clifford Chance, 2022). To take an example, a young woman in India filed a complaint against the violator of her metaverse avatar. However, it became clear that Indian or international laws cannot prosecute the perpetrator of sexual crimes' when such crimes involve metaverse avatars. India's Information Technology (IT) laws, which can prosecute 'obscene content' online, is the closest legislation to tackle such crimes. However, compared to the punishment for sexual assault, the perpetrator is likely to receive a much lower punishment under IT laws, which were enacted to deal with the current non-metaverse Internet (The European Institute for International Law and International Relations, 2022).

As noted above, the metaverse also differs from Web2 based social media in terms of the nature of digital footprint. For instance, anonymization techniques can make it more difficult to link data to a particular user and obtain digital footprints (Kim, 2022).

As discussed in 2.6.7, there is the demand for advanced crime fighting technologies and highly qualified and specialized law enforcement manpower for the metaverse. Most law enforcement agencies lag behind in the use of advanced technologies in fighting crimes. Such technologies are even more important in tackling crimes in the metaverse. The rapid growth in non-metaverse online crimes has forced police forces to use most policing resources to address these crimes. These crimes have left police forces with little or no resources to police the rapidly growing area of metaverse crimes (Coker, 2022). It is proposed:

P3. *Policy makers and law enforcement agencies are currently underprepared to control dark side activities in the metaverse.*

### 3.2.4 Metaverse and the Digital Divide

As noted in Section 2.10.1.2 specialized hardware and high-bandwidth networks are required to take advantage of many

metaverse applications (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022). Many consumers that are unable to afford the required hardware products and lack access to high-bandwidth networks are being excluded from participating in popular metaverse applications such as gaming (Kshetri, 2022b). In June 2022, web3 entertainment company Gala Games announced that its blockchain linked game titles would be distributed through the U.S. video game and software developer and publisher Epic Games Store (Cameron, 2022). Since Epic Games does not host servers in Africa, which puts African gamers at a disadvantage. The servers are far away in other continents. African gamers' reachability, also known as “ping”, is thus adversely affected, which reduces their game performance. Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms). African gamers playing on European servers are reported to have 160 ms- 200 ms ping, compared to European players' less than 20 ms ping. A European player can see the African player first and can fight more quickly (Matwadia, 2020).

Likewise, many large companies in diverse sectors are already benefiting from the industrial metaverse (Kshetri & Dwivedi, 2023). However, as Section 2.3.1, explains, companies need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the equipment needed to create a 3D model. Thus, the industrial metaverse is currently beyond the reach of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The preceding discussion can be summarized as:

P4. *The digital divide is likely to be deeper in the metaverse compared to the non-metaverse environment.*

## 3.3 This Paper's Contribution to the Literature

Overall, our work contributes to the growing body of literature on the metaverse by explicating the nature of its dark side. A contribution of the paper is to highlight a number of physical, mental and social consequences such as XR devices' potential negative impacts via a number of mechanisms (e.g., vision problems, increased stress and psychological and physiological discomforts). Our analysis also reveals while some such effects may also take place in the non-metaverse Internet, the effects are likely to be more severe in the metaverse.

The paper also contributes to the literature on the metaverse by explicitly focusing on the adverse effects on children and adolescents. These effects are illustrated with some novel offenses such as ‘virtual strip clubs’ and metabullying. We also contribute to the research on the metaverse by examining major security and privacy issues, by focusing on the operational and underlying technology.

A further contribution of this work is to demonstrate that there are significant regulatory and governance gaps in the current depiction of the metaverse. A related point is that this paper provides important insights into policy makers’
P2. *Offenses such as cyberbullying and sexual harassment are likely to have more negative effects on the metaverse compared to a non-metaverse environment.*

### 3.2.3 Policy Makers’ and Law Enforcement Agencies’ Lack of Preparedness

The issues of jurisdiction and territoriality to fight online crime and fraud has not been resolved even for the current version of the internet (Cross, 2019). There are also issues related to the conflicts of laws (Clifford Chance, 2022).

These challenges are even more pronounced for the metaverse due to higher degree of interaction and user immersion (Clifford Chance, 2022). To take an example, a young woman in India filed a complaint against the violator of her metaverse avatar. However, it became clear that Indian or international laws cannot prosecute the perpetrator of sexual crimes' when such crimes involve metaverse avatars. India's Information Technology (IT) laws, which can prosecute 'obscene content' online, is the closest legislation to tackle such crimes. However, compared to the punishment for sexual assault, the perpetrator is likely to receive a much lower punishment under IT laws, which were enacted to deal with the current non-metaverse Internet (The European Institute for International Law and International Relations, 2022).

As noted above, the metaverse also differs from Web2 based social media in terms of the nature of digital footprint. For instance, anonymization techniques can make it more difficult to link data to a particular user and obtain digital footprints (Kim, 2022).

As discussed in 2.6.7, there is the demand for advanced crime fighting technologies and highly qualified and specialized law enforcement manpower for the metaverse. Most law enforcement agencies lag behind in the use of advanced technologies in fighting crimes. Such technologies are even more important in tackling crimes in the metaverse. The rapid growth in non-metaverse online crimes has forced police forces to use most policing resources to address these crimes. These crimes have left police forces with little or no resources to police the rapidly growing area of metaverse crimes (Coker, 2022). It is proposed:

P3. *Policy makers and law enforcement agencies are currently underprepared to control dark side activities in the metaverse.*

### 3.2.4 Metaverse and the Digital Divide

As noted in Section 2.10.1.2 specialized hardware and high-bandwidth networks are required to take advantage of many

metaverse applications (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2022). Many consumers that are unable to afford the required hardware products and lack access to high-bandwidth networks are being excluded from participating in popular metaverse applications such as gaming (Kshetri, 2022b). In June 2022, web3 entertainment company Gala Games announced that its blockchain linked game titles would be distributed through the U.S. video game and software developer and publisher Epic Games Store (Cameron, 2022). Since Epic Games does not host servers in Africa, which puts African gamers at a disadvantage. The servers are far away in other continents. African gamers' reachability, also known as “ping”, is thus adversely affected, which reduces their game performance. Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms). African gamers playing on European servers are reported to have 160 ms-200 ms ping, compared to European players' less than 20 ms ping. A European player can see the African player first and can fight more quickly (Matwadia, 2020).

Likewise, many large companies in diverse sectors are already benefiting from the industrial metaverse (Kshetri & Dwivedi, 2023). However, as Section 2.3.1, explains, companies need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the equipment needed to create a 3D model. Thus, the industrial metaverse is currently beyond the reach of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The preceding discussion can be summarized as:

P4. *The digital divide is likely to be deeper in the metaverse compared to the non-metaverse environment.*

## 3.3 This Paper's Contribution to the Literature

Overall, our work contributes to the growing body of literature on the metaverse by explicating the nature of its dark side. A contribution of the paper is to highlight a number of physical, mental and social consequences such as XR devices' potential negative impacts via a number of mechanisms (e.g., vision problems, increased stress and psychological and physiological discomforts). Our analysis also reveals while some such effects may also take place in the non-metaverse Internet, the effects are likely to be more severe in the metaverse.

The paper also contributes to the literature on the metaverse by explicitly focusing on the adverse effects on children and adolescents. These effects are illustrated with some novel offenses such as ‘virtual strip clubs’ and metabullying. We also contribute to the research on the metaverse by examining major security and privacy issues, by focusing on the operational and underlying technology.

A further contribution of this work is to demonstrate that there are significant regulatory and governance gaps in the current depiction of the metaverse. A related point is that this paper provides important insights into policy makers’
and law enforcement agencies’ lack of preparedness to deal with and respond to criminal behaviors in the metaverse.

Finally, this paper has contributed to the digital divide literature by by documenting how some key features of the metaverse may worsen the digital divide. For instance, our work provides important insights into expensive devices and resources intensive applications that are required to use the metaverse, which may make it disenfranchise low income individuals and SMEs.

## 3.4 Implications for Policy

The Darkverse has important policy implications. On the policy front, it is encouraging that several countries have started developing national metaverse strategies realizing the potential of the metaverse to contribute to their national economies (Kshetri, 2023a). However, a close look at their national blueprints to utilize the metaverse indicates that they have mainly focused on the positive side of the metaverse. They contain little detail of the implications of the metaverse’s dark side for economies and societies and little explicit statements to handle such activities. While the Chinese government was reported to be studying a registration system for the metaverse, the main goal has been to prevent metaverse users from influencing wider public opinion rather than controlling the dark side of the metaverse in general (Baptista, 2022; Kshetri, 2023a).

In light of the various challenges posed by the darkverse discussed in this paper, nations’ lack of preparedness to tackle such challenges is a key concern. In a 2022 report, the EU's law enforcement agency, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) documented the metaverse’s key policing and legislation challenges (Gibbons, 2022). In the current non-metaverse Internet, policymakers and law enforcement agencies have played catch-up to keep up with the latest developments in technologies and tools (Kshetri, 2021). The Europol has warned against repeating the mistakes in tackling scams, frauds and crimes in the metaverse (Gibbons, 2022). It is thus important for nations to enact legislation to govern the metaverse. Nations should also devote more resources in education and training programs to build law enforcement capacity.

Policymakers also face jurisdictional challenges to tackle dark side activities in the metaverse. Such challenges stem from the anonymity of users and data encryption in the metaverse (Dentons, 2022). Such challenges are even more concerning in a decentralized metaverse that involves blockchain due to the lack of central governance (Kshetri, 2022a). When perpetrators engage in harmful actions in the metaverse, it is often not clear which laws apply and which court in which jurisdiction is the appropriate arbiter (Dentons, 2022). Thus, just like the current non-metaverse Internet (Kshetri, 2021), international coordination is critical for fighting the dark side of the metaverse.

## 3.5 Implications for Practice

There are also important implications for practice. Many big metaverse platforms have failed to attract users, leading to significant financial losses. For instance, Meta Platform’s business and research unit focusing on VR and AR was reported to lose about $14 billion in 2022, which is expected to lose additional $15 billion in 2023. Consequently, Meta’s emphasis has been recently shifted from the metaverse to AI (Hays, 2023). One possible explanation for the observed underperformance of these platforms is that potentially harmful effects may have outweighed the benefits for users. It is thus important for technology platforms and companies operating in the metaverse to take measures to address potential negative impacts.

Businesses are already facing more demanding customers that place a high importance on measures to protect privacy of their data and ensure cybersecurity. For instance, as early as in 2017, it was reported that about a quarter of medium-sized businesses in the UK were asked by a current or prospective customer about their security and privacy measures (Co, 2017). As discussed in Section 2.10.2.1, since the metaverse is likely to evolve as a powerful sales channel, it is important for companies to take measures to enhance security and protect privacy of consumer data in the metaverse and address other dark side issues of this evolving online phenomenon.

Companies operating in the metaverse have a special responsibility to protect children from various threats and reduce the adverse emotional and psychological impact of the metaverse on them. Among major threats children face in the metaverse include cyberbullying, sexual harassment, a lack of privacy and exposure to graphic sexual content, (Deer, 2022). Bad actors were also reported to groom children in the metaverse and persuade them to repeat racist slurs (Tong, 2022). Studies have also found that children are mixed with adults in several metaverse spaces (Tong, 2022). As mentioned in Section 2.10.2.3, verifying identity in the metaverse is likely to be more difficult than in the real world or the non-metaverse online world. Companies currently lack tools to identify who children are interacting with in the metaverse (Tong, 2022). At the industry level, initiatives could be taken by metaverse companies to develop appropriate metaverse identity solutions to identify children so that they can be better protected from various types of abuses in the metaverse and ensure that their mental and physical health is not adversely affected by excessive engagement in the metaverse.

Finally, companies should take measures to address the digital divide issues in the metaverse. As discussed in Section 2.10.1.2, there are various limitations of currently available metaverse technologies such as the need for specialized hardware and high-bandwidth networks such as 5G. R&D initiatives should aim at developing solutions that can make metaverse offerings more accessible to those that lack access to advanced technologies and infrastructures.

<figure><img src="image_29.png" /></figure>
and law enforcement agencies’ lack of preparedness to deal with and respond to criminal behaviors in the metaverse.

Finally, this paper has contributed to the digital divide literature by by documenting how some key features of the metaverse may worsen the digital divide. For instance, our work provides important insights into expensive devices and resources intensive applications that are required to use the metaverse, which may make it disenfranchise low income individuals and SMEs.

## 3.4 Implications for Policy

The Darkverse has important policy implications. On the policy front, it is encouraging that several countries have started developing national metaverse strategies realizing the potential of the metaverse to contribute to their national economies (Kshetri, 2023a). However, a close look at their national blueprints to utilize the metaverse indicates that they have mainly focused on the positive side of the metaverse. They contain little detail of the implications of the metaverse’s dark side for economies and societies and little explicit statements to handle such activities. While the Chinese government was reported to be studying a registration system for the metaverse, the main goal has been to prevent metaverse users from influencing wider public opinion rather than controlling the dark side of the metaverse in general (Baptista, 2022; Kshetri, 2023a).

In light of the various challenges posed by the darkverse discussed in this paper, nations’ lack of preparedness to tackle such challenges is a key concern. In a 2022 report, the EU's law enforcement agency, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) documented the metaverse’s key policing and legislation challenges (Gibbons, 2022). In the current non-metaverse Internet, policymakers and law enforcement agencies have played catch-up to keep up with the latest developments in technologies and tools (Kshetri, 2021). The Europol has warned against repeating the mistakes in tackling scams, frauds and crimes in the metaverse (Gibbons, 2022). It is thus important for nations to enact legislation to govern the metaverse. Nations should also devote more resources in education and training programs to build law enforcement capacity.

Policymakers also face jurisdictional challenges to tackle dark side activities in the metaverse. Such challenges stem from the anonymity of users and data encryption in the metaverse (Dentons, 2022). Such challenges are even more concerning in a decentralized metaverse that involves blockchain due to the lack of central governance (Kshetri, 2022a). When perpetrators engage in harmful actions in the metaverse, it is often not clear which laws apply and which court in which jurisdiction is the appropriate arbiter (Dentons, 2022). Thus, just like the current non-metaverse Internet (Kshetri, 2021), international coordination is critical for fighting the dark side of the metaverse.

## 3.5 Implications for Practice

There are also important implications for practice. Many big metaverse platforms have failed to attract users, leading to significant financial losses. For instance, Meta Platform’s business and research unit focusing on VR and AR was reported to lose about $14 billion in 2022, which is expected to lose additional $15 billion in 2023. Consequently, Meta’s emphasis has been recently shifted from the metaverse to AI (Hays, 2023). One possible explanation for the observed underperformance of these platforms is that potentially harmful effects may have outweighed the benefits for users. It is thus important for technology platforms and companies operating in the metaverse to take measures to address potential negative impacts.

Businesses are already facing more demanding customers that place a high importance on measures to protect privacy of their data and ensure cybersecurity. For instance, as early as in 2017, it was reported that about a quarter of medium-sized businesses in the UK were asked by a current or prospective customer about their security and privacy measures (Co, 2017). As discussed in Section 2.10.2.1, since the metaverse is likely to evolve as a powerful sales channel, it is important for companies to take measures to enhance security and protect privacy of consumer data in the metaverse and address other dark side issues of this evolving online phenomenon.

Companies operating in the metaverse have a special responsibility to protect children from various threats and reduce the adverse emotional and psychological impact of the metaverse on them. Among major threats children face in the metaverse include cyberbullying, sexual harassment, a lack of privacy and exposure to graphic sexual content, (Deer, 2022). Bad actors were also reported to groom children in the metaverse and persuade them to repeat racist slurs (Tong, 2022). Studies have also found that children are mixed with adults in several metaverse spaces (Tong, 2022). As mentioned in Section 2.10.2.3, verifying identity in the metaverse is likely to be more difficult than in the real world or the non-metaverse online world. Companies currently lack tools to identify who children are interacting with in the metaverse (Tong, 2022). At the industry level, initiatives could be taken by metaverse companies to develop appropriate metaverse identity solutions to identify children so that they can be better protected from various types of abuses in the metaverse and ensure that their mental and physical health is not adversely affected by excessive engagement in the metaverse.

Finally, companies should take measures to address the digital divide issues in the metaverse. As discussed in Section 2.10.1.2, there are various limitations of currently available metaverse technologies such as the need for specialized hardware and high-bandwidth networks such as 5G. R&D initiatives should aim at developing solutions that can make metaverse offerings more accessible to those that lack access to advanced technologies and infrastructures.

<figure><img src="image_28.png" /></figure>
## 4 Concluding Thoughts

Despite a number of economic and social benefits of the metaverse, as discussed in this article, this innovation also has a dark side. There exists the need to be aware of and understand the dark side of the metaverse so that this new innovation can be used to improve how we work, live, learn and socialize. In the end, the wellbeing of consumers should be the highest priority and, at present, the metaverse is not fully serving this purpose. Since the metaverse is evolving, the nature of threats and challenges it pose to individuals, organizations, nations and societies are likely to change over time. Appropriate measures at different levels can help minimize the adverse psychological, physiological and social consequences of the metaverse. Development of national technological and personnel capabilities, enactment of new laws that specifically govern the metaverse, a higher level of industry-government collaboration, and international coordination are critical for fighting the dark side of the metaverse.

**Funding** This research was supported by the UK Academy for Information Systems (UKAIS) small grant scheme 2022. The authors would like to thank the UKAIS chair and panel for considering this proposal.

**Data Availability** We do not analyse or generate any datasets, because our work proceeds within a theoretical approach.

### Declarations

**Competing Interests** The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

**Open Access** This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Baptista, E. (2022). Analysis: A metaverse with Chinese characteristics is a clean and compliant metaverse. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/markets/funds/metaverse-with-chinese-characteristics-is-clean-compliant-metaverse-2022-01-25/. Accessed 5 Mar 2023

Barreda-Angeles, M., & Hartmann, T. (2022). Hooked on the metaverse? Exploring the prevalence of addiction to virtual reality applications. *Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 3*, November, [Online][Accessed online 25th November 2022]. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2022.1031697

Barrera, K. G., & Shah, D. (2023). Marketing in the Metaverse: Conceptual understanding, framework, and research agenda. *Journal of Business Research, 155*, 113420.

Basu, T. (2021) The metaverse has a groping problem already. Available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/16/1042516/the-metaverse-has-a-groping-problem/. Accessed 28 Nov 2022.

BBC. (2022). *Metaverse app allows kids into virtual strip clubs*. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60415317. Accessed 5 Mar 2023

Belamire, J. (2016). *My First Virtual Reality Groping—Athena Talks—Medium*. Retrieved February 01, 2018, from https://medium.com/athena-talks/my-firstvirtual-reality-sexual-assault-2330410b62ee. Accessed 5 Mar 2023

Belk, R., Humayun, M., & Brouard, M. (2022). Money, possessions, and ownership in the Metaverse: NFTs, cryptocurrencies, Web3 and Wild Markets. *Journal of Business Research, 153*, 198–205.

Bergström, M. (2021). *The new laws of love: Online dating and the privatization of intimacy*. Wiley.

BFSI Economic Times. (2022). Regulating the Metaverse: What's needed and what's possible?. Available at: https://bfsi.econo.mictimes.indiatimes.com/blog/regulating-the-metaverse-whats-needed-and-whats-possible/92108160#:~:text=The%20metaverse%20will%20need%20real, it%20needs%20to%20apply%20globally. Accessed 5 Mar 2023

Big Think. (2022a). The case for demanding “immersive rights” in the metaverse. Available at https://bigthink.com/the-future/immersive-rights-metaverse/. Accessed 5 Mar 2023
## 4 Concluding Thoughts

Despite a number of economic and social benefits of the metaverse, as discussed in this article, this innovation also has a dark side. There exists the need to be aware of and understand the dark side of the metaverse so that this new innovation can be used to improve how we work, live, learn and socialize. In the end, the wellbeing of consumers should be the highest priority and, at present, the metaverse is not fully serving this purpose. Since the metaverse is evolving, the nature of threats and challenges it pose to individuals, organizations, nations and societies are likely to change over time. Appropriate measures at different levels can help minimize the adverse psychological, physiological and social consequences of the metaverse. Development of national technological and personnel capabilities, enactment of new laws that specifically govern the metaverse, a higher level of industry-government collaboration, and international coordination are critical for fighting the dark side of the metaverse.

**Funding** This research was supported by the UK Academy for Information Systems (UKAIS) small grant scheme 2022. The authors would like to thank the UKAIS chair and panel for considering this proposal.

**Data Availability** We do not analyse or generate any datasets, because our work proceeds within a theoretical approach.

### Declarations

**Competing Interests** The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

**Open Access** This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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