Ireland may be willing to receive a slew of new jobs from the social media giant Facebook, which will create 10,000 new jobs across the European Union over the next five years.

The investment is part of its plans to help build a new computing platform based on interconnected virtual experiences using technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality known as the metaverse.

The social network will not determine how much Ireland will benefit from the expansion.

However, since the company’s EMEA headquarters are located in this country, it is expected that a portion of the roles will be based here.

“Facebook is at the beginning of a journey to help build the next computing platform,” said Gareth Lambie, President of Facebook Ireland.

« Facebook Ireland has played an important role in the growth and success of our company thus far. »

« Today’s announcement is a commitment to growth in Ireland and across Europe and in our long-term investment in European talent to help build the metaverse. »

Facebook previously announced that most of its employees can choose to work full-time remotely from a number of European countries, if their job allows them to do so and the same policy will apply to new employees.

The new roles will be a mix of in-office and remote positions and will include engineering, product and associated business functions.

In a blog post, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and Javier Olivan, vice president of Central Products, said the metaverse is based on the idea that by creating a greater sense of ‘virtual presence’, online interaction can become much closer to an experience. personal interaction.

« The metaverse has the potential to help open access to new creative, social and economic opportunities, » they said.

« And the Europeans will shape it right from the start. »

They added that the investment is a vote of confidence in the strength of the European tech industry and the potential of European tech talent.

« The EU has a number of advantages that make it a great place to invest in technology companies – a large consumer market, first-class universities and, most importantly, high-quality talent, » they wrote.

Facebook has come under fire in the last week after research emerged that revealed the harmful effects of Instagram on children’s mental health.

The social network also suffered major outages across its multiple platforms that left users unable to access the services.

The Data Protection Commission has also fined WhatsApp 225 million euros for a series of data protection violations.

Despite the company’s growing regulatory scrutiny in Europe, the Facebook blog noted the « important role » it says the EU should play « in shaping the new rules of the internet ».

« European policymakers are leading the way in helping to embed European values ​​such as freedom of expression, privacy, transparency and individual rights into the day-to-day business of the Internet, » Clegg and Olivan write.

« Facebook shares these values ​​and we have taken significant action over the years to uphold them. »

“We hope to see the completion of the digital single market to support the existing advantages of Europe, as well as stability in the international data flows that are essential to a thriving digital economy.”