Meta Corporation (recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned) announced plans to lower the minimum age for users of its Quest VR headsets from 13 to 10 years. The company ensures that it will only allow access to applications that are recognized as safe for this age group, and only with the permission of the parents (they will have to approve the creation of the child’s account).
Children’s accounts will also not post ads. This information was confirmed to The Verge by Meta spokesman Joe Osborne.
Kids’ profiles on Quest will default to Private, which means “people won’t be able to follow teens without their or their parents’ consent.” The corporation’s blog post states that only parents can disable this security feature.
Unlike Epic Games, which was recently fined $520 by the FTC (US Federal Trade Commission) for allowing children to play the game above the legal age limit, Meta clearly has the intention to avoid possible lawsuits or fines, which is why it offers an option for minors with strict parental control.
Despite this, market experts expect further angry letters to the Senate. The previous wave involved a supposedly “saucy” teen project in development at Meta, codenamed Project Salsa.
The issue of children’s access to various information on the network is always perceived very acutely. A flurry of bills in Congress on this issue is aimed at increasing the power of regulators and even banning children under the age of 13 from using social media altogether.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
