The European Union invested $400,000k into a 24 - hour Metaverse "beach party" full of "music and fun", only to attract less than ten guests who all peaced out in less than an hour.  The event, according to Insider was thrown by the European Commission's foreign aid department, which was hoping to drum up youth excitement for its newly-announced Global Gateway strategy. But sadly - as has probably never happened as the result of any other government institution's attempts to appeal to The Kids - the party didn't exactly go as planned. Five people showed up and four left after an hour.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           One called the digital beach party depressing and embarrassing, while another referred to the event as digital garbage. When told how much money the agency had spent on the project, someone else simply said "JESUUUUUUS." Another  said "Who validated this?" To make matters worse, the commission's Global Gateway project, which the event was meant to promote, is in part a strategy for 'countering Chinese influence - post pandemic.'  As you might imagine, EU officials are keen to the fact that the whole ordeal looks extremely bad - to their own constituents, sure, but to the Chinese authorities as well. At the end of the day, all the EU got was some digital egg on their face.