China's metaverse aims to use high-tech to suppress subversion

The Chinese government has already jumped on the metaverse bandwagon, that immersive digital world being developed by companies like Meta. But the country's leaders don't intend to compete with the US for primacy in this new race – they want to build a domestic metaverse tailored to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) objectives. It's a vision that enables the private sector to develop key technology for the Asian giant, but also maintains what the government euphemistically calls "social peace." The state machinery's wheels are already turning. In 2021, more than 10,000 metaverse-related trademarks were registered in China, compared to less than 1,000 in 2020 and 2019. So far in 2022, 16,000 trademark applications have been submitted.