Materializing corporate futures: how the EU navigated the Metaverse hype

This paper investigates the European Union’s approach to regulating the Metaverse, a corporate-driven digital future introduced by Meta Platforms Inc. in 2021. Through its ‘Initiative on Virtual Worlds,’ the EU envisions a regulatory framework for a ‘third space’ where information, financial transactions, data, and digital identities can flow seamlessly on a global scale. This study reveals that the EU perceives massive corporate-owned datafication not as a challenge but as a strategic opportunity to secure a leading role in global standards-setting for digital environments, positioning itself more as an enabler than a critical challenger. Analyzing EU documents, particularly those framing Web 4.0 and virtual worlds, the findings illustrate (i) how the EU legitimizes the concept of an imagined Metaverse, (ii) how this regulatory process promotes a corporate-centered digital future while sidelining issues of sovereignty and environmental sustainability, and (iii) how interactions among state entities, tech corporations, and civil society reveal shifting power dynamics.