Metaverse Gets New Use Case: Colombia Holds its First Full Court Proceeding in the Virtual Space

María Victoria Quiñones Triana, the magistrate of the Magdalena court who presided over the case, commented, “the use of information technology in the development of judicial proceedings has the essential purpose of facilitating and expediting these processes [of executing justice].”

The virtual hearing termed a success, though not the first in the world

Those attending the virtual hearing – where a complainant was trying to sue a police officer – termed it a success, while others thought seeing cartoon-looking characters was ridiculous. In their opinion, using avatars and characters takes away the seriousness of a case.

While this is the first time Colombia has held a virtual hearing in the metaverse, it is not the first in the world. In September 2022, a Chinese court held a similar meeting. However, the South American nation now enters a club of a few countries taking their services to the metaverse.

The trend of virtual hearings started gaining momentum at the height of Covid-19 in 2020. Corporations and professionals turned to video conferencing via digital platforms such as Zoom to meet and collaborate during the remote working trends.

Conversely, metaverse, a term that describes a world of virtual realities, has taken Web 3.0 by storm. Big companies and investors are rushing to buy land in the virtual space to promote their brands and capitalize on new opportunities. Citi Analysts believe the metaverse economy will grow to about $8 trillion to $13 trillion by 2030.

With the potential, tech giant Meta has been exploring opportunities in the metaverse. However, its metaverse project has been short of success until now, with the company’s Reality Labs losing $4.28 billion in the last quarter of 2022. It remains to be seen whether more countries will enter virtual spaces, which is becoming the norm.