On February 21st, a strange Chinese metaverse organization called the “China Mobile Communications Association Metaverse Consensus Circle” (CMCC) posted a self-regulatory initiative online. It analyzes the current state of China's metaverse and offers advice and specifications for Internet companies that are preparing to enter this industry. In the initiative, CMCC defines the metaverse as "a method to assist in the development of the real economy" and points out that companies should properly guide consumers. So people have reasonable expectations for the future of the metaverse, and harm to the market by capital speculation can be avoided. The initiative also points out that as an important part of the future digital economy, the metaverse must abide by specific standards to maintain its legality in China. CMCC cited a series of Chinese laws, including Internet fraud, illegal fundraising, and virtual token issuance, calling on companies to comply with the law and avoid the spread of bad information in the metaverse that causes economic bubbles and adverse effects on the market.
The initiative is said to have been published by a meeting of the organization's internal members. Although the organization itself is not known to be a government agency and is unfamiliar for Chinese people, the initiative is written in a very official style, with many references to the Chinese government's recent views and comments on the metaverse and new Internet technologies. A few hours after the release of the initiative, China News, a news site funded and operated by the Chinese government, along with Sina and other credible news agencies, reported on the initiative, drawing attention and speculations about the organization.
However, looking closely at the website for this organization, it may not be as legitimate as it seems. CMCC's website domain name was valid from 1997-2017, meaning it expired five years ago. Also, the website domain name is registered not by a Chinese government branch related to the emerging technology field of the Internet but by a private Internet company located in Beijing and registered in Shen Zhen. What’s more, the contact information given at the bottom of the site is an email address registered with a QQ IM account, which is often seen as unprofessional and unofficial in China. To further increase the appearance of reliability, CMCC staff even added the words "Trusted Site" to the website’s banner to mimic a browser’s pop-up when identifying the website’s security.
The funny thing is, CMCC's understanding of the metaverse runs counter to the current Internet. They were trying to promote the idea that the creator of the metaverse is Hsue-Shen Tsien, the famous Chinese physicist. The website had a column for Professor Tsien, trying to interpret his work and speeches into ideas and suggestions on the metaverse, even though the concept of the metaverse was only recently introduced from science fiction because of the rise of extended reality technology and professor Tsien passed away back in 2009.
According to the website, the organization is now open for anyone to apply for "Membership" and "Business Partnership", recruiting more businesses to join the circle.