LONDON — FacebookPlans to create 10,000 European Union jobs within the next five year in an effort to construct a digital “metaverse”.

On Sunday, the social media platform announced that it was hiring highly skilled engineers from countries throughout the bloc. It is targeting Germany, France and Italy as its main recruitment market.

“Europe’s hugely important for Facebook,” Nick Clegg and Javier Olivan wrote in Sunday night’s blog.

“From thousands of EU employees to millions of companies using our tools and apps every day, Europe is a large part of our success as Facebook is in European companies’ success and that of the larger economy.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision for a metaverseIn July. Metaverse refers to digital realms where multiple users can interact in a 3-D environment.

Facebook unveiled recently what it calls its new “Standard” first step into the metaverse — a work collaboration app where people hold meetings in virtual reality.

Many other companies including Epic Games and Roblox are making large investments in their metaverse versions.

Clegg said that “as we embark on the journey to bring the metaverse into life, the urgent need for highly skilled engineers is one Facebook’s top priorities,” Olivan and Olivan stated.

“We are looking forward to working alongside governments throughout Europe to find the right people in the right markets and to move this forward as part of a upcoming recruitment campaign across the region.”