Meta Opens Horizon Worlds to Preteens with Parental Consent

Meta is opening up its Horizon Worlds virtual reality platform to younger audiences, specifically preteens, by allowing access to various experiences under parent-supervised accounts, albeit with a range of safeguards.

In its latest announcement, the company revealed that parents will soon have the ability to approve specific age-appropriate environments for their children aged 10 to 12. These include interactive spaces like The Space Station, The Aquarium, and a racing game called Spy School. Parents and their preteens have the flexibility to choose; kids can ask for particular worlds they’d like to visit, or parents can handpick the experiences they find suitable.

Adding an extra layer of security, Meta has introduced a new rating system. Worlds are categorized into 10+, 13+, or 18+ ratings, helping parents quickly decide which worlds are kid-friendly. With this, 18+ environments are automatically hidden from younger users. Moreover, follower suggestions are eliminated, and kids are shown as “offline” by default unless parents choose otherwise.

Another safety feature is the “Personal Boundary” setting, which remains constantly active. This setting ensures a virtual bubble of two feet around avatars, preventing others from encroaching on personal space.

This parental control initiative is part of Meta’s broader effort to enhance safety in its VR ecosystem. Alongside these measures, the platform now requires parents to explicitly approve who their children can communicate with or invite to join them in VR. Further, Meta Quest 2 or 3 users are prompted to confirm their birthdate before they can proceed with using their devices.

Parent-controlled accounts have been an option since June 2023. However, despite the increased safeguards, many parents are likely to remain skeptical about Meta’s commitment to their children’s safety. This hesitation is grounded in past controversies, including allegations from earlier this year pointing to Meta knowingly promoting its messaging services to minors. This came to light through internal documents in a case pursued by the New Mexico Department of Justice, highlighting issues of inappropriate adult-child content exchanges. Additionally, a lawsuit filed by attorneys from 42 U.S. states claims that Meta’s designs are inherently appealing to children, which could harm their mental health.