According to The Wall Street Journal, Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal have called on Meta to cancel its plans to release a metaverse app for teenagers.
This comes after reports that Meta is attempting to crack down on the spread of intimate images of teens on its platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
However, Markey and Blumenthal have pointed out that Meta has failed to protect children from harmful content in the past, and releasing an app for them is not worth the risk.
The app in question is called Horizon Worlds, which is an online game based on virtual reality.
Players can interact with each other in different worlds and participate in social events and games.
The senators have cited a study by Common Sense Media, which warns that using virtual reality headsets to access the metaverse could cause nausea and eye strain, as well as impact user privacy.
Moreover, the senators referred to a study by the Digital Hate Action Center, which suggests that users of VRChat, a similar platform, may be exposed to abusive behavior every seven minutes.
Despite criticism, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has defended the development of the metaverse, claiming that the company has not seen a convincing argument to abandon it.
It should be noted that Meta is banned in the Russian Federation, and some critics have already found flaws in its existing products for immersive experiences in the metaverse.
For instance, The Verge journalists have reviewed the Quest Pro virtual reality helmet and the Horizon Worlds metaverse and found them wanting.
The Quest Pro has a resolution of 1800×1920 pixels per eye and features five external and internal cameras.