EU spends € 400,000 on a virtual party for six people

The European Commission’s External Action Service allocated 387,000 euros to organize a party in the metaverse. However, only six people showed up for the event, which took place on November 29.

«I'm here at the € 387,000 gala concert in the EU’s Department of External Aid metaverse (designed to attract politically unbiased people aged 18−35),» Devex media correspondent Vince Chadwick wrote on Twitter. «After the first few confused conversations with the five or so other people who showed up, I’m now alone.»

I’m here at the «gala» concert in the EU foreign aid department’s € 387k metaverse (designed to attract non-politically engaged 18−35 year olds — see story below). After initial bemused chats with the roughly five other people who showed up, I am alone. https://t.co/ChIHeXasQP pic.twitter.com/kZWIVlKmhL

— Vince Chadwick (@vchadw) November 29, 2022

According to the plan, the avatars of the Global Gateway metaverse wander around a surreal tropical island — there is a beach party going on around the clock, drones flying with screens flashing the words «education,» «healthcare,» and so on. There is an open book art installation on the island as a «symbol of the human journey to knowledge,» a large red statue fights a prototype coronavirus molecule, and user avatars can walk on water.

The European Union presented the metaverse as «an ideal place to meet new people and reflect on global issues to change our common future.» The virtual reality project is part of the EU’s plan to build new infrastructure in developing countries and to engage young people aged 18−35 in understanding «what the EU is doing on the world stage.» The total budget for 2027 is $ 300 million, the lion’s share of which will be provided by investors.

Of all the planned expenditures under the EU’s long-term initiative (especially given that most of the funds will be raised externally), creating a party in the metaverse has proven to be the most unjustified use of investment. If we convert the amount spent into six party attendees, the European Commission did not spare 64,500 euros for each of them. At the moment, this can be considered the most expensive entertainment event in Europe, surpassing the prices of tickets to concerts of top world stars (for example, the most expensive ticket to a Madonna concert in Europe cost $ 1500, and Barbra Streisand’s in the United States cost $ 2000).

The launch of the metaverse also caused a wave of outrage among Internet users. «There's a severe drought in East Africa, the UN doesn’t have enough money for food for refugees, there are wars going on, and this is what you decided to spend money on?» — a Twitter user asked the EU. In response to the criticism, a spokesperson for the European Commission said: «The European Commission is obliged to inform EU citizens about its current activities. The campaign (to create a metaverse) fulfills this obligation and aims to reach an audience that does not have access to traditional EU information sources through innovative means of communication.»

The EU official’s comment did not satisfy the media, so the media have already dubbed the Global Gateway virtual reality as unpromising «digital garbage.»

As a reminder, cryptocurrency analysts have called metaverse the main cyber threat of 2023. Users were warned about possible fraudulent schemes, viruses, ransomware, and phishing. Experts also believe that the number of virtual crimes will grow with the growth of metaverse, the market volume of which will reach $ 50 billion by 2026.