The Metaverse is an iteration of the Internet part of shared virtual reality, often as a form of social media. The metaverse in a broader sense may not only refer to virtual worlds operated by social media companies but the entire spectrum of augmented reality. The term arose in the early 1990s, and has come to be criticised as a method of public relations building using a purely speculative, "over-hyped" concept based on existing technology. While embraced by some tech firms such as Facebook, Microsoft and others, concerns about the impact on modern societies when all person to person interactions are effectively autonomous.