Meta introduces tool “Personal Boundary” to guard against harassment in metaverse

Meta (formerly known as Facebook) has introduced a new tool called “Personal Boundary” to guard against harassment in its Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues virtual reality spaces.

According to Meta in a statement, Personal Boundary prevents avatars from coming within a set distance of each other, creating more personal space for people and making it easier to avoid unwanted interactions.

Meta had to come up with this new tool when it received complaints that people were being harassed in the metaverse. A beta tester said her avatar was groped by a stranger shortly before Meta opened Horizon Worlds to everyone aged 18 or older in the US and Canada in December 2021. Horizon Worlds launched in beta last year to select Oculus VR users, who answered invitations to join the virtual world.

How Personal Boundary Works

A Personal Boundary prevents anyone from invading your avatar’s personal space. If someone tries to enter your Personal Boundary, the system will halt their forward movement as they reach the boundary. This builds upon our existing hand harassment measures that were already in place, where an avatar’s hands would disappear if they encroached upon someone’s personal space.

This new tool will be on by default and cannot be disabled. Meta believes that this will help to set behavioral norms—and that’s important for a relatively new medium like Virtual Reality. Due to the fact that Personal Boundary is the default experience, you’ll need to extend your arms to be able to high-five or fist bump other people’s avatars in Horizon Worlds or in Horizon Venues.

Personal Boundary will begin rolling out immediately everywhere inside of Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues. Meta says that, in the future, it will explore the possibility of adding in new controls and UI changes, like letting people customize the size of their Personal Boundary.