Keep Your Eyes on China’s Metaverse: Another Tool for Maintaining its National Security

Abstract

While many people have been discussing the security implications of the development of the metaverse from a civilian or business perspective, very few discussions analyse the implications from a national security perspective. Thus, this article contributes to the security discussions by exploring how China can make use of the metaverse to maintain stability and international influence. This article argues that the metaverse provides an immersive and integrated environment, thus, facilitating the Chinese government’s spread of propaganda and invasion of the privacy of netizens accessing China’s Internet. This article will discuss China’s emphasis on Internet security; then, this article discusses how the metaverse assists China in influencing people’s mindsets and monitoring people’s behaviours. Finally, this article discusses the implication of China’s metaverse on individuals. As we sail into a new era of the digital world, everyone should maintain their independent thinking and be aware of their data security to enhance their resilience to government abuses.

_{Received: 2022-07-05
Revised: 2022-07-25}