The EU needs to consider issues such as non-discrimination, user safety and data privacy when considering how to regulate the metaverse, a senior European Commission official said Friday.

The bloc wants to avoid mistakes it says were made with internet policy in the past, as the EU’s executive arm prepares to set out its strategy on virtual worlds in a policy document due in May.

“We want to make sure that the developments that we see in virtual worlds are fully in line with our European values from the outset – values such as inclusion, respect of privacy, non-discrimination and equality,” Yvo Volman, Director of Data at the European Commission's digital department, DG CONNECT, said at an event hosted by the Commission in Brussels.