Democratic senators oppose Meta’s idea of introducing teenagers to the Metaverse — Metaverse
Meta, the social networking company, is getting some headwind for its plan to launch Horizon Worlds, its flagship Metaverse app, and make it available to teenagers. Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to the company to stop these actions, citing concerns about the interactions teens might have in Meta’s virtual worlds.
meta sees Resistance against Metaverse teenage adoption plans
Two Democratic senators have written a letter asking Meta to shelve their recently announced plan to open their Metaverse world to teens. Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal, Democratic Senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut, criticize the idea of opening Horizon Worlds, Meta’s flagship Metaverse app, to teens ages 13 and up, citing various factors that make them unfamiliar with the available in this virtual world interactions could jeopardize.
The letter differentiates between standard virtual reality experiences and Horizon Worlds, stating that “the cumulative set of immersive virtual reality experiences that a teen is exposed to in the socially-driven Horizon Worlds differs from the use of a virtual reality -Headsets for gaming, for example, distinguishes a specific single-player game. Inviting young teenagers into this environment therefore carries serious risks.”
Markey and Blumenthal are calling for the plan to protect the health of these young users and their privacy on the Metaverse to be halted, naming the company for its past failures regarding this demographic.
Meta’s Teen Adoption Push
The Wall Street Journal reported on February 7th about Meta’s plan to add teenagers to his Metaverse. According to an internal news outlet memo, the company’s new strategy included opening the Horizon Worlds experience to teens ages 13 and up. This would mark a change from the app’s current policy, which only allows users over the age of 18 to roam the virtual world.
According to WSJ, Meta’s memo reiterates the need to make these services accessible to young users in order to keep growing. Horizon Worlds Vice President Gabriel Aul reportedly said:
Today, our competitors are doing a much better job of meeting the unique needs of these cohorts. For Horizon to be successful, we must ensure that we serve this cohort first.
While Horizon Worlds experienced rapid growth in its early stages, growing its user base tenfold shortly after its December 2021 release, the app was criticized for its buggy state, even by Meta’s own staff. In October, Metaverse VP Vishal Shah acknowledged that the issues present in the app were hampering the user experience and that even employees at the company weren’t spending much time using it.
What do you think of the resistance Meta is facing when it comes to bringing Horizon Worlds to teenagers? Tell us in the comment section below.
photo credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, WikiCommons
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Source: Crypto News Deutsch
