US senators say Metaverse should not be available to teens

Two Democratic senators in the United States are pleading with Meta to drop its reported idea that it will allow teenagers to use its Horizon Worlds metaverse programme, reported CNET.

Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts raised concerns about Meta's history with teen safety on its other applications, including Instagram and its kid-friendly version of Facebook Messenger, in a letter published on Thursday.

"In light of your company's record of failing to protect children and teens and a growing body of evidence pointing to threats to young users in the metaverse, we urge you to halt this plan immediately," a statement by the senators read, according to the CNET report.

With the aid of a virtual reality headset, users of Horizon Worlds can create, interact, and play games. It has been discovered that harassment issues exist in virtual reality realms just like they do in other internet locations. This raises concerns about other crimes as well.

Blumenthal and Markey drew attention to security flaws in other Meta programmes, such as workarounds that let children use Facebook's Messenger Kids service to communicate with strangers. Also, studies indicate that Instagram may negatively impact young people's mental health. One in five teenagers, according to an internal Meta study, claimed that using Instagram made them feel worse about themselves.

Though Meta says it is looking into the matter, it has not explicitly stated that it intends to provide minors access to Horizon Worlds. Reportedly, the change could take place this month.

"The Quest platform has always been designed for people ages 13+, so it makes sense we'd plan to introduce experiences for that audience in Horizon," a Meta spokesperson said in an email to CNET. 

The tech giant said the teenagers were already spending a lot of time in "VR experiences on Quest" which is why the company wanted to ensure they can provide "great experience in Horizon Worlds ... with age-appropriate tools and protections in place."

According to reports from the previous year, Horizon Worlds was drawing fewer visitors for shorter trips than Meta had anticipated.