• Meta has launched Parent Managed Accounts so that kids as young as 10 years old can use the Meta Quest.
• Parents will have to approve the account and will be granted a range of controls to limit screen time and access to potentially harmful apps.
• Meta says that no advertising will be served to these users, but that it will collect data to “deliver an age-appropriate experience.”

Social media has become an intrinsic part of everyday life, but it also has the potential to harm its users depending on what content algorithm’s feed to users. Facebook has been found to negatively affect the mental health of teen girls and younger users in particular. In fact using social media at all has been linked to depression presenting in users no matter the personality.

Which is why news that broke while South Africa celebrated Youth Day is rather alarming.

Through the introduction of Parent-Managed Accounts, Meta is allowing children between the ages of 10 – 12 to have a Meta account, so long as a parent okays the creation.

“With new parent-managed Meta accounts, we’re making it easier for parents to create and manage their family’s accounts on one device. 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. When parents share their preteen’s age with us, we’ll use this information to provide age-appropriate experiences across our app store. For example, we’ll only recommend age-appropriate app.,” Meta wrote in a press release.

As you may infer from the mention of apps, this functionality is being made available so that children can make use of Meta’s virtual reality headsets.

Importantly, parents will have full control over what apps their children can download. All apps need to be approved by a parent and all accounts created in this way are private so that nobody can follow a youngster without the parent approving the request.

“We will use information we collect about 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds through our Meta Quest products to deliver an age-appropriate experience. We do not serve ads to this age group. Parents will also be able to choose whether their child’s data is used to improve the experience, and they will be able to delete their child’s account, including all of the data associated with it,” Meta told parents.

This is an incredibly bizarre turn of events especially as Facebook requires users to be at least 13 years old before they can sign up for an account. What’s more, is that if a 10 year old wants to experience Horizon Worlds, they can’t. This as the application has an age restriction of 13 in both the US and Canada with that age limit set to 18 in Europe.

The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp says there are a “vast array of engaging and educational apps, games, and more across our platform, the majority of which are rated for ages 10 and up”.

However, parents don’t appear to be able to monitor what a child has watched beyond casting a VR experience to a phone or TV, while the headset is in use.

While we’re sure Meta has it’s duck in a row as regards this feature, we do wonder if its not stepping on dangerous ground by allowing pre-teens to access a Meta account. This as the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) in the US is very strict as regards online platforms allowing children younger than 13 on those platforms.

This is why the likes of Facebook has always required users be 13 years-old, as obtaining written permission from parents for children who are younger likely wasn’t worth the effort.

Since launching however, Facebook has become a force to be reckoned with in Meta. The imminent launch of the Quest 3 bundled with a bottom line that continues to plunge lower may have the firm scrambling to find a new customer base.

We’re curious to see if this gamble plays out for Meta, we wouldn’t risk a potential COPPA violation though, even if we were used to paying fines.