Hi all, this is Zheping in Hong Kong. Facebook isn’t the only social media giant that’s planning a future in the metaverse. But first…
Today’s top tech news: 
Mark Zuckerberg has officially renamed his company Meta Platforms Inc. in his bid to offer the world an immersive digital realm. In China, Tencent Holdings Ltd. is prepping for a similar technological leap.
Tencent is the local publisher of Roblox Corp.’s gaming platform, which allows users to create virtual worlds. It’s gone on a hiring spree for developers to make futuristic immersive games. And the company has even registered metaverse-related trademarks for its social and music apps in China.
Even though Tencent hasn’t gone as far as decoupling its corporate identity—and it probably never will—the Chinese firm may actually be better positioned than Meta to turn the sci-fi concept of a 3D world wide web into reality.
Apart from its roots in social networking, Tencent runs a sprawling business empire, touching everything from gaming to mobile payments and virtual offices. Its WeChat super app is already indispensable to the one billion Chinese people who use it to chat, shop, watch videos and order food and taxis.
Here’s what a Tencent-centric metaverse would look like: You design your 3D avatar on the QQ chat app and use it in live-stream calls with colleagues on Tencent Meeting. After work, your avatar pops into a game of PUBG Mobile and wins a ticket to a virtual concert on Kugou Music. Seeing conflicting schedules, you then sell the ticket on WeChat in exchange for a new haircut for your avatar the next morning. A scenario like this involves video streaming, gaming, social networking, e-commerce and money transactions—all made possible through Tencent properties.
But while Tencent is likely more ready for the metaverse in terms of tech infrastructure, Beijing’s scrutiny over online content and data security complicates things. For starters, Roblox’s China platform isn’t interoperable with the global version, part of the two parallel universes on today’s internet that cater to either China or the rest of the world. Facebook had tried in vain for years to bring its service to the world’s biggest smartphone market before Zuckerberg’s 180-degree turnabout on Beijing. Meta would likely have to accept a local competitor like Tencent to fill in a China-shaped hole in the metaverse too.
Will China give Tencent even more leeway to build out something that can compete with Meta equally on the global stage? Maybe. Just this past weekend, a state-backed think tank published a paper calling on Beijing’s government to step up scrutiny over the metaverse for national security concerns. China should be ready to set up tech and ethical standards for the metaverse, and deal with the challenges it brings in areas like anti-money laundering and IP protections, the paper argued. Tencent could serve as a national champion for that cause.
But at the end of the day, the metaverse isn’t about one company or one country. It’s the convergence of the physical and digital worlds enabled by thousands of competing businesses and creators. No matter who builds it, that world is still a long way away. —Zheping Huang
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