Meta to allow kids aged 10-12 to interact with others in VR and MR: Here are the rules

Meta Quest 3

Facebook owner Meta will soon allow kids between 10-12 years of age to send and accept invites to others for VR and MR sessions, chat with them and also call them, but only after their parents’ approval, the company said in a Meta Quest blog post.

Meta will soon allow parents to “individually add approved contacts that a 10- to 12-year-old can then chat with, call, and send or accept invites to join them in MR or VR experiences.”

However, Meta has laid out the following conditions that must be met before the kids can join in the VR and MR experiences-

1. “Only someone who your preteen follows or who follows your preteen is eligible to become an approved contact.”

3. “Parents can manage approved contacts by searching and adding them directly from the child’s Following and Followers lists.”

4. “A preteen can request a follower become an approved contact. Once the parent has added them as an approved contact, the preteen will be able to chat, call, and send or accept invites to a parent-approved multiplayer MR or VR experience.”

5. “If two preteens want to chat, call, and send or accept invites to a parent-approved experience, parents of both preteens need to add them as approved contacts.”

6. “If a parent would like to delete an approved contact, they can do so at any time.”

Meta introduced family accounts for preteens in 2023; the family accounts require parent approval at setup. Meta claims that the family accounts “provide default protections built specifically for young people aged 10 – 12” and that the “age may vary by region”.