The Metaverse App Launch For Teens Faces Opposition From Democrat Senators

Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Ed Markey (D., Mass.) pleaded with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, to postpone the distribution of the Horizon Worlds metaverse software to youths aged 13 to 17.

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We urge you to stop this proposal right once, the letter reads, "in light of your company's track record of failing to protect children and teens and a growing body of research pointing to hazards to young users in the metaverse." Trade Algo cites the letter in its article.

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According to a spokeswoman for Meta, the business introduced supervision options for users of their Quest headsets in June that allow parents to approve, prohibit, and monitor the apps their teenagers use.

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Ages 13 and up who already spend time using the headgear, a terrific experience with age-appropriate safeguards in place, were the target audience for Meta's Quest virtual reality headsets.

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The senators brought up a bug in Messenger Kids that let users between the ages of 6 and 12 interact with strangers by getting through the app's age limitations.

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The senators emphasized Meta's inability to prevent teen advertising for alcohol, tobacco, and eating disorders.

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The company's internal research, which discovered that its Instagram site was hazardous for some underage girls, was also referenced by the two senators.

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The senators placed a strong emphasis on gathering information on face and eye movement, physiological harm like nausea and eyestrain, and exposure to violent threats, sexual content, and bullying.

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"Meta can't protect the young people on its platforms now, so Mark Zuckerberg has no right to lure more minors into the wild west of the metaverse," Sen. Markey stated in a statement to the Trade Algo.

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Building the metaverse cost billions of dollars for Meta. The business invested $15.9 billion in its Reality Labs branch in 2022 alone. According to Zuckerberg, the metaverse is where computing technology is headed.

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For the first half of 2023, Meta set the Horizon unit's objective at 500,000 monthly active users, and for the entire year, it was set at 1,000,000. As of January, the number of active monthly users on Horizon was little over 200,000.