The race to build the metaverse – a vast digital realm where virtual and physical worlds merge – is already becoming a global power struggle. According to new research from the University of Amsterdam, the United States, China, and the European Union are each charting their own course toward this “new internet”, revealing starkly different political and economic visions of our digital future. Their rival approaches are giving rise to competing metaverses – one led by American Big Tech, another by China’s state-backed giants. The research was published in the journal Politics and Governance.

The research’s author, political scientist Nora von Ingersleben-Seip, argues that the metaverse is far more than a technological curiosity – it is fast becoming a geopolitical battleground. While the concept remains in its infancy, governments and corporations are already racing to shape how this immersive, interconnected new internet will function – and who will control it.

‘We are witnessing the emergence of two competing versions of the metaverse,’ says Von Ingersleben-Seip. ‘A consumer-focused one led by American Big Tech, and an industry-focused one led by Chinese Big Tech. Europe has a vision of a third, open Metaverse – but it lacks the companies to bring that vision to life.’

America: the market-driven metaverse

In the United States, there is no formal federal policy for the metaverse. Instead, the government supports related technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and cloud computing through industrial policies like the CHIPS and Science Act. This hands-off approach has given Big Tech companies – such as Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft – the freedom to define the new internet.

The choices made today will determine whether the metaverse becomes an open digital commons or a fragmented system controlled by a few powerful players.Nora von Ingersleben-Seip

These companies dominate nearly every layer of the digital ecosystem, from virtual reality headsets and app stores to cloud infrastructure and digital identity systems. As a result, the American metaverse is becoming a commercial, closed environment where users’ experiences – and their data – are controlled by a small number of powerful corporations.

China: the state-led industrial metaverse

China, by contrast, has launched a comprehensive national strategy to lead in the metaverse. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has introduced five-year plans and a Three-Year Action Plan (2023–2025) to integrate virtual and extended reality technologies into key sectors like education, manufacturing and healthcare.

Chinese tech giants – Huawei, Tencent, ByteDance, Alibaba, and NetEase – are central to this vision, working closely with the state to create an industrial metaverse focused on productivity and national strength. Every online identity and transaction in China’s metaverse is monitored through government-approved systems, reflecting a model that prioritises control and surveillance alongside technological progress.

Europe: the rights-driven vision

The European Union has taken a different approach. Through its Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds Strategy (2023), the European Commission aims to build an open, interoperable metaverse grounded in European values such as privacy, transparency and inclusion. The EU envisions a digital environment where users’ rights are protected and businesses of all sizes can thrive.

Europe is investing in public-interest projects such as Destination Earth, a “digital twin” of the planet to model climate change, and CitiVerse, a virtual replica of urban environments to improve city planning. Yet despite these ambitions, Von Ingersleben-Seip notes that Europe’s lack of major technology firms leaves it reliant on American infrastructure for cloud computing and artificial intelligence – a dependency that limits its influence over the metaverse’s evolution.

A fork in the digital road

Von Ingersleben-Seip concludes that each region’s approach reflects its broader political and economic philosophy: the US favours private innovation and market dominance; China promotes state control and industrial development; the EU seeks to balance innovation with ethics and digital rights.

‘The metaverse is not just a technological development – it’s a political and economic project,’ Von Ingersleben-Seip. ‘The choices made today will determine whether it becomes an open digital commons or a fragmented system controlled by a few powerful players.’