Update, 3:02pm PT: Stephenson's Facebook has been restored within the last 1-2 hours. (I've been checking.) But the irony remains forever.
Neal Stepheson, author of Snow Crash, tweeting yesterday:
Today in “you can’t make this stuff up,” Meta has suspended my Facebook account because they suspect me of impersonating someone noteworthy
I could write a whole book but how ironic this is (oh wait, I did) but it's pretty fun to spend two-three years in research and interviews, writing about how Meta's leaders never really understood the Metaverse, couldn't even explain it to their staff, were never really passionate about virtual worlds and what made them meaningful, and how they sidelined people on their team who were. When all of that could be encapsulated by quoting this single tweet.
Beyond my book, here's some references on Meta's highly strange relationship with the Metaverse:
- Virtual World Vet Warned Meta About Avatar Harassment in the Metaverse Years Ago — But Long-Known Best Practices Were Not Prioritized
- Meta Staff's Confidence in Metaverse Drops Sharply from 2021; Majority Say Zuckerberg Not Clearly Explaining What It Even Is
- What Went Wrong With Horizon Worlds? Former Meta Devs Share Surprising Insights — And a Solution to Still Save It
- Ex-Meta Director Helps Confirm What Went Wrong With Horizon Worlds: "No One Loved the Product"
By the way, I just tried looking up Neal Stephenson's account on Facebook (we have several mutual friends on the social network, so before this, it popped right up in search), but nearly 24 hours later, it still hasn't been restored. Will update this post when/if it is!
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Wagner James Au / New World Notes 
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