Privatization of 'Web 4.0' worries EU Commission, senior official says
By Sara Brandstätter ( March 31, 2025, 11:07 GMT | Insight) -- Private companies' control over the next generation of the Internet, dubbed Web 4.0, is worrying the European Commission due to risks of technological and social silos becoming entrenched, senior EU digital official Thibaut Kleiner said today. The commission promoted a strategy for virtual worlds and Web 4.0 in July 2023, and it is due soon to publish the results of several studies on the issue, he told a conference.Private companies' control over the next generation of the Internet, dubbed Web 4.0, is worrying the European Commission due to risks of technological and social silos becoming entrenched, a senior EU official said today. “We see that this public good is being privatized. We see that there is a risk of a splinter net … This is not the future Web 4.0 we want," Thibaut Kleiner, director for future networks the commission's digital department, told a conference*. "This is not what we believe virtual worlds should deliver.” Web 4.0 refers broadly to Internet services based on emerging technologies, particularly shared virtual reality worlds or "metaverses," integrated with artificial intelligence and machine learning and underpinned by decentralized infrastructure....
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