Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg should “immediately cancel” plans to let minors enter his fledgling “Horizon Worlds” metaverse because it could put them at risk of online abuse, a group of more than 70 online children’s safety groups and other experts said in an open letter Friday.
“Getting teens to use the platform is essential to Meta’s bottom line because they are potential life-long users, and their presence and support can make the platform seem trendy,” the letter says. “But what may be good for your bottom line may be incredibly harmful to young people.”
The letter cited a report compiled last month by the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Titled “Horizon Worlds Exposed,” the report found underage users are already active on the free, online game and that they are “routinely exposed to harassment and abuse — including sexually explicit insults and racist, misogynistic, and homophobic harassment — and other offensive content.”
The group’s report said researchers identified at least 19 instances of abusive content aimed at minors in their 100 visits to “Horizon Worlds,” which currently enacts an 18-and-up age limit.
The open letter cited an internal memo reported by the Wall Street Journal in February which revealed that executives at Facebook’s parent company were now planning to open “Horizon Worlds” to users aged 13 to 17.
The letter’s signatories included a total of 36 organizations and 37 individual experts, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Fairplay and Common Sense Media. Bloomberg was first to report on the letter.
Zuckerberg is apparently pushing forward with his metaverse expansion during a period of unprecedented scrutiny on Capitol Hill and beyond about social media’s harmful effects on underage users.
Meta, TikTok and other platforms have been pilloried by lawmakers for failing to put adequate safeguards in place to shield children from harmful content and online abuse.
Launched in 2021, the multiplayer game allows users to move and interact with each other in various virtual worlds that host events, games and social activities.
The game works on Oculus Rift S and Meta Quest 2 headsets.
However, Meta’s flagship metaverse for consumers has failed to meet internal performance expectations, according to internal documents reviewed by the Journal last year.
“It’s beyond appalling that Mark Zuckerberg wants to save his failing ‘Horizons World’ platform by targeting teens,” Fairplay executive director Josh Golin said in a statement. “Already, children are being exposed to homophobia, racism, sexism, and other reprehensible content on Horizon Worlds.”
The groups argue that Meta should “wait for more peer-reviewed research on the potential risks of the metaverse to be certain that children and teens would be safe.”
Meta spokesperson Joe Osborne said the firm was taking steps to safeguard underage users from harmful content within the metaverse.
“Before we make Horizon Worlds available to teens, we will have additional protections and tools in place to help provide age-appropriate experiences for them,” Osborne said in a statement.
“Quest headsets are for people 13+ and we encourage parents and caretakers to use our parental supervision tools, including managing access to apps, to help ensure safe experiences,” Osborne added.
In 2021, Zuckerberg faced intense criticism after whistleblower Frances Haugen delivered bombshell testimony on Capitol Hill accusing Facebook of prioritizing profits over public safety.
The testimony included a damning account of how teenage girls active on Instagram are bombarded with harmful content, including images promoting anorexia and other body image disorders.
The latest pushback from online safety experts represents another headache from Zuckerberg, who has poured billions into metaverse technology.
The costly initiative has drawn mockery and rankled investors and employees and alike over the last year.
Meta is also under fire as Zuckerberg leads a “year of efficiency” at the company that has already resulted in more than 21,000 layoffs.
This week, a report said that Meta is in the midst of a “morale crisis” as workers scramble to avoid pink slips even as some of the company’s top executives work remotely from other parts of the world.
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