Meta is gearing up to open the doors of its Horizon Worlds to American and Canadian teenagers, which is almost a must for the American giant today.
A few months late, Horizon Worlds, the giant Meta’s metaverse platform, is finally opening its doors to the little ones. Menlo Park will indeed make its metaverse available to young people aged 13 to 17 living in the US and Canada in the coming weeks. It makes sense that the company is promising “robust”security and parental controls – it wants to make sure the experience is age-appropriate, and rolling it out over time will see how effective its protection is.
Meta is preparing to open the doors of its Horizon Worlds to American and Canadian teenagers
Teen profiles in Horizon Worlds will be private by default and will not automatically display their location and active status. They also won’t be able to see unknown adults in the “People You May Know”list. This age bracket also prevents them from creating or using adult content, and “voice mode”blurs the voices of anyone who isn’t being followed. These young users will also benefit from safety tips when they are in VR.
Parents can use the Meta Quest app or Family Center (now also available in Horizon Worlds) to manage features like personal boundaries. They can also allow or block apps, track teen usage, and see who follows who. All users can also cast their VR experience to an external display so that a parent in the same room can see what’s happening, for example.
Almost a necessity today for the American giant
This strategy perfectly reflects Meta’s current approach to keeping teens safe on Facebook and Instagram. However, this should not please everyone. The Senators urged the Meta to keep the juniors away from the Horizon Worlds, fearing that the giant’s enclosures would not fit. In particular, they noted that Meta’s own study found harm to younger users and that other virtual spaces such as VRChat are the target of predators and other toxic behaviors.
In any case, there are many reasons pushing the Meta to expand its metaverse as much as possible. The social media giant is having trouble turning to the metaverse right now and continues to lose billions of dollars in the area as its Reality Labs division works on the Horizon Worlds and Quest headsets. A wider audience, including teenagers, could give a serious boost to the popularity of Horizon Worlds and even participate in the revival of the VR hardware market.