Last year, Meta introduced parent-managed accounts for children under 13, which must be set up and monitored by parents or guardians. Parents or guardians are responsible for approving the content their child can access, including allowing followers. In the near future, preteens will have the option to add approved contacts for more social interactions. Meta will soon allow preteens to chat and call with contacts, as well as participate in approved VR or MR experiences by accepting invites from contacts.
There are several restrictions for individuals who can become a Meta contact for a preteen user. Firstly, this individual must be either following the child or being followed by them. Children have the option to request certain followers to be accepted as contacts.
Parents and guardians have the authority to delete an approved contact from the list at any moment. If two preteens wish to be contacted, both of their guardians must give their approval. As previously stated, preteens can only participate in VR or MR activities that have been authorized by their parents.
Meta has a history of creating safe spaces for minors, as seen with their platform Instagram, which restricts minors from receiving messages from non-followers and requires parental approval for certain app settings. This effort to protect minors extends to their virtual reality platform, where inappropriate content can be more impactful. Meta’s commitment to online safety for minors is commendable, and this new update will soon be available to Quest owners.
At this point, I may sound like a broken record, but these types of gestures and updates truly set the Quest headsets apart from some of the top VR headsets available on the market.
