Children play virtual reality games on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Live Website which was established on February 7, 2022 in Beijing, China.
Andrea Verdelli / Getty Images
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Andrea Verdelli / Getty Images
Children play virtual reality games on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Live Website which was established on February 7, 2022 in Beijing, China.
Andrea Verdelli / Getty Images
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, plans to roll out parental monitoring tools for its virtual reality headset, over concerns about whether it’s safe for kids to explore the so-called “metaverse” or not. The company is also rolling out new child safety tools on Instagram.
Meta says their Quest headset is designed for people over 13, but NPR and other shop reported that younger children appear to be using VR apps, including adult ones, such as Meta’s own Horizon Worlds. That raised concerns that children could become a target for predators and be exposed to inappropriate content in the app.
Starting in April, Meta said, parents will be able to lock their children out of apps they deem age-inappropriate. In May, the company will automatically block teen users from downloading apps that the International Age Rating Alliance considers too old for them.
Parents will also have access to a dashboard where they can see what VR apps their kids have downloaded, get notifications when they make purchases, track how much time their kids use the headset, and view listings. their child’s friend book.
Meta is also creating a new “Family Hub” hub that brings together parental monitoring tools and educational resources across all of its apps, including Instagram. It will include instructional videos on using the new tools and recommendations on how parents can talk to their children about Internet use.
Long-awaited Instagram features to launch on Wednesday
Instagram’s first parental monitoring toolkit will launch in the US on Wednesday and will expand globally over the next few months.
Originally announced in December, they will allow parents to see how much time their kids are spending on the photo-sharing app, set time limits, and receive notifications if their kids report issues like bullying or harass and see what accounts their kids follow and who follows them. But for parents to be able to use the new tools, both they and their children need to opt-in.
Vaishnavi J, Meta’s head of youth and wellbeing, described the new features for both Instagram and virtual reality as “just one step in a much broader journey, centered around safer and more secure experiences.” meaningful conversations between families.”
Child safety has become a major highlight for Meta over the past year. Leaked documents reveal plans to build a version of Instagram for kids under 13. Later, internal research was revealed by Facebook delator Frances Haugen shows the company knows Instagram can be harmful for teenage girls. In September, Instagram said it was pausing work on the app for younger children, but not completely.
Lawmakers have focused on the topic as a rare area of bipartisan agreement. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. And Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last month introduced Children’s Online Safety ActThis will require apps to create stricter safety measures for users under 16, build parental monitoring tools, and protect younger users’ privacy.
As Meta tries to respond to criticism that it’s too lax on safety for children and teens, the company also faces stiff competition from other apps, like TikTok, which are popular more with young people than the property itself.
It also bets that virtual reality will be the next big platform to play games, communicate and buy things – and help offset growth stalled at its original social network.
Editor’s Note: Meta pays NPR to license NPR content.
