Meta now allows kids above 10 to use its Quest virtual reality headset
Meta's move comes at a time when US Congress is flooded with bills seeking to protect children from social media.
Social media giant Meta has lowered the minimum age for Quest headset users from 13 to 10. This comes at a time when bills have been introduced in the US Congress seeking to even ban kids under 13 from using social media. A group of US senators introduced a bill "To require that social media platforms verify the age of their users, prohibit the use of algorithmic recommendation systems on individuals under age 18, require parental or guardian consent for social media users under age 18, and prohibit users who are under age 13 from accessing social media platforms."
Meta spokesperson Joe Osborne told The Verge that the parents need to approve the creation of a kid's account and the company will only recommend the apps considered safe for that age group. Also, the children will not be shown ads.
The profile and avatar of a 10-12 year-old user will be set to private by default. This means that the people will not be able to follow pre-teens without their or their parent's approval. According to Meta blog, the parents will control whether their child can download or use an app. The parents can block access to these apps at any time.
“To help parents decide whether to allow their preteen to use an app on the Meta Quest Platform, all apps will have a product description page that provides information on what data is collected and how it might be used, whether the app has social features, as well as an age rating provided by the IARC, an independent global agency”, the blog post added.
Meta also said it will be the parents to decide how long their child can use the Quest headset each day. They can also cast virtual reality experiences to a phone or TV screen to monitor what the children are viewing while using the headset.
