Virtual policing: into the metaverse?

• In October 2022, INTERPOL announced a number of measures aimed at fighting the increase in online criminal activities. One of the most surprising ones was the announcement of the creation of the organisation’s metaverse ‘twin’.
• While its current form is so far limited to a clone of the organisation’s headquarters, INTERPOL’s digital twin may represent the first step towards virtual policing of the metaverse(s).

The term ‘metaverse’ was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. Since then, protagonists in sci-fi books and movies have donned reality goggles and entered the metaverse (or the author’s iteration of it), to escape their real worlds. That type of an escape is now available outside of the literary or cinematographic realm for anyone with as little as a mobile phone, although to experience its immersivity, a virtual reality headset or augmented reality smart glasses are recommended.