A World within a World: Navigating Competition Law in India in the Context of Metaverse

Abstract

Today, leading technology companies such as Meta, Roblox, Microsoft, and Woozworld are researching and developing their own Metaverses for gaming, buying and selling Non Fungible Tokens, socializing, and hiring and recruiting. The concept of “Metaverse” was popularized in 2021 when Meta (earlier known as Facebook) decided to build its Metaverse. However, even before this, the concept of the “Metaverse” was first introduced in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in his sci-fi novel “Snow Crash.” With companies like IKEA and Flipkart entering the Metaverse market, it is lucid that Metaverse is not just for technology corporations but any company that knows how to utilise technology. Thus, the entry of multinational corporations in the Metaverse translates to a high likelihood of various competition law issues in India because of an absence of explicit and inclusive legal frameworks to curb anti-competitive issues in digital spaces like that of the Metaverse. In this research article, first, the Authors analyze India’s current competition law framework and compare it to the United Kingdom’s recently introduced Digital Markets Unit to assess the ability of Indian competition law to address and curb anticompetitive issues in the Metaverse. Second, the Authors analyse the impact of the current jurisprudence given by international Courts on competition law issues in the Metaverse. Lastly, the Authors give specific recommendations to resolve anti-competitive issues in the Metaverse such as the updation of the Indian Competition Act, 2002, giving power to the Competition Commission of India to address and regulate anti-competitive issues in the Metaverse, and other similar recommendations.