Social media giant Facebook said that it plans to build a “metaverse” and will create 10,000 jobs in the European Union over a span of 5 years, according to media reports.

While the recruitment drive of Facebook will be largely focused on countries like Poland, Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands the company said on Sunday that high-skilled engineers would be brought on board as employees, according to reports from CNBC.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision for a metaverse in July. The metaverse is a term used to describe digital worlds in which multiple people can interact within a 3D environment.  

In a blog, Facebook’s global affairs head Nick Clegg and Vice President of Central Products amplified the importance of Europe to the social media company. 

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Sunday night’s blog read, “From the thousands of employees in the EU (European Union), to the millions of businesses using our apps and tools every day, Europe is a big part of our success, as Facebook is in the success of European companies and the wider economy”, according to reports from CNBC.

Metaverse, a concept unveiled by Facebook, was announced recently. The new initiative is reportedly a work collaboration app that would allow people to hold virtual meetings. Multiple other tech-based organisations like Roblox, Epic Games and Microsoft have also been investing heavily in their own spin-offs of the concept.

Olivan and Clegg said, “As we begin the journey of bringing the metaverse to life, the need for highly specialized engineers is one of Facebook’s most pressing priorities”, according to reports from CNBC.

The statement added, “We look forward to working with governments across the EU to find the right people and the right markets to take this forward, as part of an upcoming recruitment drive across the region.”