Mark Zuckerberg has been coming under fire from two senators who recently raised concerns about his alleged plan to target teenagers in order to save his sinking metaverse project, Horizon Worlds. Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have been criticizing his "documented track record of failure to protect children and teens," calling on Zuckerberg to stop underaged minors from using Horizon Worlds.Zuckerberg has invested heavily in the metaverse, but the venture does not seem to be returning dividends, Meta reporting a loss of no less than $26 billion since October, 2020. The playerbase has been consistently shrinking in Horizon Worlds, most users leaving the platform after only a couple of days and never returning. Meta previously claimed that Horizon Worlds could attract 500,000 players, but later brought this figure down to a relatively meager 280,000. The actual playerbase never exceeded 200,000 users.While access to the platform was initially restricted to people over the age of 18, Zuckerberg is reportedly planning to relax this limitation, allowing potential players to be as young as 13 years old, at least according to the publication Fortune. Senators Markey and Blumenthal have raised concerns about the risk of exposing underage minors to online abuse, accusing Meta of exploiting young people for profit and calling on the company to stop teens from using Horizon Worlds.
“Any strategy to invite young users into a digital space rife with potential harms should not be driven by a goal to maximize profit. We call on you to immediately halt Meta’s plan to bring teen users onto Horizon Worlds,” the senators said in a statement. Markey later added on Twitter that “Meta has completely lost the public’s trust and this latest attempt to bring kids onto the metaverse is just another flagrant attempt to exploit young people for profit.”
Senator Blumenthal in particular has long been critical of technology companies for their lack of accountability, arguing that “tech giants have long turned a blind eye to horrific harms and dangers on their platforms.” Meta has not yet responded to the concerns raised by Senators Markey and Blumenthal.