When Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced his company’s name change to “Meta” late last year, skeptics saw an attempt to divert attention away from startups. reports claiming that the company was well aware of reports detailing how social media was damaging democratic institutions and having negative effects on mental health, particularly for young women.

Zuckerberg responded to the controversy by stating that the “metaverse” is the next chapter of the Internet and that his company was refocusing its mission to build it and shape its contours.

The metaverse, according to Zuckerberg, is a “creative economy” that users will build together, where users can “express themselves and experience the world with ever-increasing richness.”

“The next platform and a half will be even more…