Colombian lawmakers recently held a two-hour court hearing using virtual reality technology provided by Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
The meeting, which was streamed live on YouTube, marked the first full virtual hearing held by Colombian lawmakers and was reportedly successful.
Lawyers donned virtual headsets and participated in the meeting as computer-generated avatars, using Meta’s Horizon Workrooms.
While some viewers felt that using virtual avatars took away from the seriousness of the hearing, the event represents a landmark moment in the technology’s use in legal proceedings.
Virtual meetings and court hearings became more common in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the success of the hearing in Colombia suggests that virtual reality technology may have significant potential in the legal sector and beyond, despite Meta’s virtual reality division losing significant money in Q4 2022.
