Two senators have urged Mark Zuckerberg not to open Meta’s Horizon Worlds to younger teens. In early February, the company could allow people ages 13 to 17 to use the app as early as this month in a bid to bolster the user base and perhaps help justify the billions of dollars Meta has invested. in your metaverse efforts. Horizon Worlds is currently only .
Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal urged Zuckerberg to stop plans to bring the app to those under 18 years of age. “In light of your company’s record of failing to protect children and adolescents and a growing body of evidence pointing to threats to young users in the metaverse, we urge you to stop this plan immediately,” their letter reads. , according to .
The senators are said to have highlighted a number of concerns regarding Meta’s record in protecting younger users, as well as research into the potential dangers of the metaverse. They pointed to past problems, such as allowing children between the ages of six and 12 to circumvent age restrictions and talk to strangers in some cases.
The duo cited reports from 2021 regarding Meta’s internal investigation, which indicated that Instagram was especially for girls. Meta responded to the reports by stating that the research also showed that some girls felt positive effects from using Instagram and that the app’s team had done a lot of work on issues like bullying and self-harm to make it a safer space. However, Meta put up plans for an Instagram Kids app after backlash.
The senators also cited investigations of noting that the use of virtual reality headsets to access metaverse experiences can cause nausea and eyestrain, and also affect users’ privacy. The letter pointed to the Center to Counter Digital Hate. suggesting that users of VRChat, a popular social platform available on Quest headsets, may be exposing users to abusive behavior every seven minutes.
Following reports about bringing Horizon Worlds to younger users, Meta noted that its Quest headsets are designed for users ages 13 and up. As such, a spokesperson that it made sense to offer Horizon Worlds experiences to younger teens with “age-appropriate tools and protections.”
Horizon’s monthly active user numbers are said to have been around 200,000 in January. Meta reportedly expects to increase that number to half a million by the end of June and one million by the end of the year. An internal memo indicated that the company sees younger users as the key to helping it achieve those goals. goal too to release mobile and web versions of Horizon soon.
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