Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said on Tuesday it would open its Horizon Worlds virtual reality app to teens and take appropriate steps to keep minors safe.
Before Meta expanded Horizon Worlds to users ages 13 to 17, online safety advocates for kids and two Senate Democrats opposed plans to allow teenagers to use the Metaverse app.
“Teens have become fans of the industry’s hottest VR experiences, so it’s critical that we create age-appropriate, safe and positive VR experiences for them,” the company said in a statement.
Horizon Worlds is a virtual reality platform that allows users to interact with each other in various virtual reality “worlds”, play games and participate in virtual social activities, and create new worlds.
The meta says that all teen profiles are automatically set to private, so they can approve or decline requests to follow them.
The app also does not show other users the teen’s activity status in Meta Horizon Worlds locations, unless the teen decides whether their contacts can see if they are online. They can also control whether connections can see the public worlds or events they are in.
By default, the app silences the voices of teenagers so they can’t be heard by others who don’t know them, the company said. The app also doesn’t show adults that teens don’t know in its “People You May Know” list to limit interaction between adults and teens.
According to the announcement, the app will be available to teens in the US and Canada in “the coming weeks.”
The Meta update comes just a week after a group of advocacy groups wrote to the company urging them to stop the program over concerns it could pose a security risk, including exposing children to explicit sexual abuse and other offensive content or harassment.
Last month, Senators Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) sent a letter to Meta, also calling on the company to stop opening the app to teens.
“Given your company’s failure to protect children and teenagers, and the growing evidence that young Metaverse users are at risk, we urge you to stop this program immediately,” they said.
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Post time: Apr-19-2023