“We do not want a balkanization of the metaverse.” That was the message from Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, who is among several high-powered tech executives at Davos this year.

His message at a roundtable to discuss the Meta’s priorities—in line with the World Economic Forum’s title for this year’s annual meeting: “Cooperation in a fragmented world”—is appropriate. He called on big tech companies and governments to work together to ensure interoperability between the different versions of the metaverse that remain in development.

“We are at the foothills of the foothills of the metaverse,” is how Mr. Clegg described the nascent metaverse, which could ultimately create a hybrid world with a multitude of uses, including education and healthcare…