Tell tech companies to make virtual reality headsets safe for kids!
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, HTC Americas President Daniel O'Brien
Virtual reality (VR) headsets like Meta’s Oculus Quest are exposing children to a nightmare world of sexual harassment, threats of violence and grooming. A new study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that users of a popular VR app faced abusive behavior every seven minutes!
Despite the risks to minors, major VR brands Meta and HTC have failed to add parental controls that would let parents screen out harmful and age-inappropriate material and protect their children from VR’s dark side.
Kids across America were given these headsets for Christmas. In fact, the Oculus app that accompanies Meta’s headset shot to the top of the App store on Christmas Day. Any child using one is vulnerable to predators.
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To:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, HTC Americas President Daniel O'Brien
From:
[Your Name]
Your VR headsets are exposing kids to a nightmare world of sexual abuse, harassment, threats of violence and grooming. In fact, a recent study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that a VR user encounters abusive behavior every seven minutes!
Many parents purchased VR sets for their children for Christmas with the expectation that, like other gaming consoles, there would be parental controls to help us keep our children safe. Without those controls, these headsets are nothing more than a way for predators to find and abuse our children. It’s appalling and unacceptable.
We call on you to take immediate steps to protect children from the dark side of VR, starting by adding parental controls that allow families to shield minors from harmful and age-inappropriate content.