The concept of the Metaverse existed long before Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be changing its name to Meta earlier this year, but you’d have a hard time telling the company that. According to a report from The New York Times, an Australian artist who had the handle @Metaverse on Instagram saw her account suddenly taken away from her.
Thea-Mai Baumann is an artist and technologist who has been working in the metaverse since well before Facebook bought virtual reality company Oculus and suddenly showed interest in the idea. She snagged the @Metaverse handle nearly a decade ago, in 2012, and has used the account to document her life and highlight her work, much of which makes use of augmented reality technology. She and a team of other creators built Metaverse Makeovers, a company that produces fashion and accessories that, when viewed through the lens of a smartphone, come alive.
