Meta Lowers Age Requirement for Quest VR Headsets to Allow Preteens
Mark Zuckerberg will let kids as young as 10 years old use his company’s VR headsets to enter the metaverse.
The age requirement for the Meta Quest headset was previously 13, but on Friday, the company announced it’s going to lower the age requirement to 10 to 12 years old.
As first reported(Opens in a new window) by The Verge, the change will happen later this year and apply to the Meta Quest 2 and the upcoming Quest 3 headset slated to arrive in the fall starting at $499. However, kids aged 10 to 12 will need permission from their parents to use the headsets.
“We’ll require preteens to get their parent’s approval to set up an account, which will give parents control over the apps their preteens download from our app store,” Meta wrote in a blog post(Opens in a new window).
During the account setup process, a parent will register the preteen’s age, which will be used to provide “age-appropriate experiences” to the kid. “Parents will control whether their preteen can download or use an app, and parents can block access to apps at any time,” the company added. Other parental controls include time limits on use, the ability for a parent to cast the kid's VR experience to a TV or phone, and hiding the child's active status from other users by default.
Lowering the age requirement could help Zuckerberg sustain interest in the company’s VR headsets when enthusiasm for his metaverse concept has waned. But according to reviews and reports(Opens in a new window), many underage kids are already bypassing the age restrictions on Quest headsets by logging on with their parents’ accounts.
Meta goes on to say that the VR headset can provide kids with plenty of games and educational experiences. However, the news may rankle US
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