Shanghai wants to expand indiscriminately into the metaverse, including its public services and industrial production (among others)

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At the end of October, Facebook gave the Metaverse a huge publicity stunt by changing its name to Meta Platforms. Since then, absolutely everyone is going regarding their plans so as not to miss the train for this virtual world. On the side of Shanghai, we see things in a big way.

If the impetus for the metaverse came mainly from the United States, we are also very attentive on the other side of the Pacific. Two Chinese Big Techs, Baidu and Tencent, recently announced that they too will be designing their own virtual universe. ByteDance (TikTok) has invested in several companies in the sector, such as the manufacturer of VR headsets Pico. Finally, Alibaba has created a subsidiary to reflect on the various opportunities offered by the metaverse.

And it’s not just the private sector that gets into it. CNBC reports that China’s largest city, Shanghai, is also planning to expand virtually. In a five-year development plan for the electronic information industry unveiled this Thursday by local authorities, we find for the first time the mention of “metaverse”.

The metaverse is one of the four frontiers to be explored, the Shanghai Municipal Economy and Information Technology Commission said. The document calls for “encouraging the application of the metaverse in areas such as utilities, business offices, social entertainment, industrial manufacturing, production safety and electronic games,” reports the US media.

In addition, the commission said it plans to increase research and development of underlying technologies, including sensors, real-time interaction and blockchain.

Upcoming regulation

If a city is dedicated to the metaverse – and therefore directly advertises it – that does not mean that China is going to jump in head-to-head. Especially since this year was marked by the arrival of many new rules and prohibitions in the technology sector.

Logically, the metaverse will not escape regulation. Winston Ma, assistant professor of law at New York University, said on CNBC that the Chinese should expect the introduction of specific law in this area. After all, the metaverse is fully tied to cryptocurrencies and virtual games, fully affected by this year’s regulations.