Facebook’s parent firm has opened up its famous VR platform called Horizon Worlds to younger audiences.
Those belong the age of 18 will now be given the chance to witness the endeavor, provided they live in the US and Canada region. In the past, we saw Meta limiting the age of audiences to 18 but now, they’re letting things go by with the reduction in age eligibility criteria.
The company says the decision is a part of its plans for expansion as it vows to ensure proper security and safety protocols are in place as a default.
We have to admit that Meta has really taken up a bold stance on the matter as the news came despite huge criticism from lawmakers and activists of children’s rights who opposed the calling. They urged the company to rethink its decision as they just did not feel it was the right one for younger users.
But the unveiling today is definitely not surprising for obvious reasons. The firm had one of its personal memos leaked that spoke about the move and it dated back to February of this year. The memo highlighted Meta’s plans on this front where those between the age of 13 to 17 would be allowed on board Horizon Worlds. At this time, Senators mentioned in that post how they wished Zuckerberg would halt his plans in terms of giving young teens access to a digital world that came with so much harm.
Meta claims to have put forward a new line of safety features that entails proper back-end protections with the right parental supervision endeavors. This way, both parents and youngsters would be in this together so it would provide a more safe experience.
Now, we’re seeing the tech giant roll out the feature at a slow pace so it can gauge usage before a proper mass expansion is on the cards.
Teenager users on Horizon Worlds can select who to follow and who may follow them back too. This way, the profiles are set on private settings and that means it can allow or decline those who sent out requests that follow them.
As a default setting, Meta will not provide the active status for teenagers and neither would their location be accessible to others on the platform. However, let’s not forget how such settings are changeable so you are given the chance to see which connections are active online and which event they might be engaged in right now.
The company hopes to make use of content ratings so teenagers have the best experience within the platform, the company mentioned in its recent blog post. For instance, any explicit or mature-themed content wouldn’t be allowed. Similarly, the policies would stop teens from putting out content related to mature worlds or gatherings. And if such content is promoted, it would be going against Meta’s policy so would need to be removed at the nearest date.
Read next: Meta Unveils Its Latest Image Recognition Developments As It Works On The Next Stage Of Generative AI
Those belong the age of 18 will now be given the chance to witness the endeavor, provided they live in the US and Canada region. In the past, we saw Meta limiting the age of audiences to 18 but now, they’re letting things go by with the reduction in age eligibility criteria.
The company says the decision is a part of its plans for expansion as it vows to ensure proper security and safety protocols are in place as a default.
We have to admit that Meta has really taken up a bold stance on the matter as the news came despite huge criticism from lawmakers and activists of children’s rights who opposed the calling. They urged the company to rethink its decision as they just did not feel it was the right one for younger users.
But the unveiling today is definitely not surprising for obvious reasons. The firm had one of its personal memos leaked that spoke about the move and it dated back to February of this year. The memo highlighted Meta’s plans on this front where those between the age of 13 to 17 would be allowed on board Horizon Worlds. At this time, Senators mentioned in that post how they wished Zuckerberg would halt his plans in terms of giving young teens access to a digital world that came with so much harm.
Meta claims to have put forward a new line of safety features that entails proper back-end protections with the right parental supervision endeavors. This way, both parents and youngsters would be in this together so it would provide a more safe experience.
Now, we’re seeing the tech giant roll out the feature at a slow pace so it can gauge usage before a proper mass expansion is on the cards.
Teenager users on Horizon Worlds can select who to follow and who may follow them back too. This way, the profiles are set on private settings and that means it can allow or decline those who sent out requests that follow them.
As a default setting, Meta will not provide the active status for teenagers and neither would their location be accessible to others on the platform. However, let’s not forget how such settings are changeable so you are given the chance to see which connections are active online and which event they might be engaged in right now.
The company hopes to make use of content ratings so teenagers have the best experience within the platform, the company mentioned in its recent blog post. For instance, any explicit or mature-themed content wouldn’t be allowed. Similarly, the policies would stop teens from putting out content related to mature worlds or gatherings. And if such content is promoted, it would be going against Meta’s policy so would need to be removed at the nearest date.
Read next: Meta Unveils Its Latest Image Recognition Developments As It Works On The Next Stage Of Generative AI