Meta Being Called To Stop Allow Minors Join Metaverse World

Key Points:

• Advocacy and safety groups have asked Meta to cease plans to let children enter the metaverse.
• In the following months, the company intends to encourage teens and young adults to join their metaverse app, Horizon Worlds.
• It has also come under fire for the impact of its goods on the mental health of children.

According to Bloomberg, dozens of advocacy and children’s safety specialists have urged Meta to abandon its plans to let minors into its new virtual reality environment.

On April 14, online safety organizations and experts wrote to Mark Zuckerberg, urging the company to abandon plans to welcome minors and young adults to its metaverse app, Horizon Worlds. Major safety organizations like airplay, the Center for Countering Internet Hate, Common Sense Media, and others signed the letter.

The move comes as the company prepares to welcome teens and young adults to its Horizon Worlds metaverse app in the coming months. The company originally opened Horizon Worlds to anyone over the age of 18 in 2021 but has since struggled to keep consumers returning to the site.

According to activists led by online safety organizations such as Fairplay, the Center for Countering Digital Harmony, Common Sense Media, and others, Meta must first assess the risks of allowing minors into the metaverse because minors are likely to face harassment and privacy violations on its virtual reality app.

“Meta must wait for more peer-reviewed research on the potential risks of the metaverse to be certain that children and teens would be safe,” the groups stated.

According to a March study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, individuals under the age of 18 have already faced abuse from adults on the app. During 100 trips to the most popular worlds in Horizon Universe, the researchers saw 19 incidents of abuse aimed at kids by adults, including sexual harassment.

Meta has come under fire for the impact of its goods on the mental health of children. In 2021, a Facebook whistleblower accused the company of prioritizing profits above safety and failing to safeguard youngsters, especially adolescent females who spent too much time on Instagram.

According to Bloomberg, the company does not intend to abandon its plans for virtual world miners but rather to take further precautions to safeguard such customers from any metaverse-related infractions.

Against the backdrop of regularly experiencing losses as a result of virtual world development rules, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company abruptly declared that it would discontinue support for NFT after just half a year of delivering this service. The company said that it would continue to invest in the fintech solutions that individuals and companies will need in the future.

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