Meta Now Allowing Teens Into Horizon Worlds App

Meta is trying to expand its customer base, now letting teenagers in the US and Canada use the Horizon Worlds app. The social media giant states that it will also include age-restricted safety defaults to provide teens a safe experience.

This expansion was in the works since February, if reports are to be believed. The company's latest announcement comes amid protests by online safety experts and organizations against Meta's plans to allow children into the app.

What is Horizon Worlds?

For the unversed, Horizon Worlds is a free VR (virtual reality) game that's described as a "social experience." While it's only available on the Meta VR headset for now, the company plans to branch out to mobile devices and web browsers.

Age-Restricted Content for Teens

Prior to today's announcement, Horizon Worlds was restricted to users that were over 18. With the app being opened up to teens between the ages of 13 and 17, Meta is introducing a set of "age-appropriate protections and safety defaults."

The profiles of teenagers will be set to private by default, and they will also have the option to control who follows them back on the app. In addition, teens will be restricted from finding or viewing mature content.

Meta is also introducing a "voice mode" which will convert the voice of people that the teen is unfamiliar with into "friendly sounds." The mode also garbles the teen's voice when talking to strangers.

Meta states in a blog post, "Meta Horizon Worlds' teen safety features have been designed with input from parents, safety advocates, and experts, including ConnectSafely, and we continue to design with best practices from the United Nations, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and youth developmental experts in mind."

Parents Can Supervise Their Kids Too

Parents and guardians can add parental supervision controls via Meta's Family Center. With the controls set up, parents will be able to view and control various safety features. They will be able to monitor how long their child has been using the app in the past week, view the list of followers, and more.

Source: Meta