Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, contended that mobile app store operators, such as Apple and Google, ought to be in charge of enforcing social network parental controls during the January congressional hearing on internet safety.
It seems that Meta is now demonstrating how it believes app-store-equipped devices ought to handle online age verification through the use of its Quest VR store.
In order to give teens and preteens the “right experience, settings, and protections,” Meta today stated that it is asking Quest 2 and 3 users to verify their age by reentering their birthdate. Teens between the ages of 13 and 17 will, for example, automatically have their profile set to private.
Parents can use parental supervision options to customize their teen’s experience. For preteens between the ages of ten and twelve, parents must create an account in the meantime. The preteen’s app downloads can then be restricted by parents.
Users can verify their age within a 30-day period. Their account will be temporarily disabled until they submit their birthday if they don’t comply within this time frame.
According to Meta, individuals who inadvertently enter the incorrect birthday will have to provide identification or a credit card for verification, as it is simple to fabricate an age when submitting a birthdate alone.
Developers have previously been informed by Meta that they will need to specify the target age category for their app (adults, teens, or preteens) as of March 2024.
Additionally, it declared the formal debut of its user age group APIs, which took place just last month. If a user is too young to use an app, developers can notify Meta through the APIs.
In 2022, Meta included parental supervision features to its virtual reality headgear. Parent-managed accounts for preteens were made available by the corporation last year.
