VR risks for children: Meta has influenced research, say whistleblowers

According to the research team John Sattizahn and Cayce Savage, Meta has influenced internal research work. The two scientists testified before a US Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. As former Meta employees, they had been commissioned by the company to investigate the potential safety risks of its VR products for children and young people.

The Washington Post reported on Monday about a case in which Sattizahn interviewed a family in Germany with two children about their use of Quest devices. There, one of the two children allegedly said that adults had sexually harassed his younger brother several times in virtual reality. The mother knew nothing about this. After the interview, the researchers were asked by their supervisor to delete the recording and all written transcripts. This statement was ultimately omitted from the report. The anecdote is just one example of numerous documents that Sattizahn, Savage, and two anonymous Meta employees have compiled and submitted to the US Congress.

According to Sattizahn, Meta's legal department has been much more involved in the research work since the revelations by Frances Haugen in 2021. It has reviewed, changed and in some cases stopped studies. Lawyers have also advised researchers to package sensitive topics in language that avoids legal risks, and not to collect data that could prove that children are using the VR headsets. Meta rejects the allegations.

Sattizahn said he was dismissed from Meta in April last year after disputes with superiors over restrictions on research. Savage left the company of his own accord in 2023.

The responsibility lies with the parents

Grooming is a well-known problem that is usually associated with social media. What is far less well known is that virtual reality can also be misused for this purpose – as the case from Germany shows. According to Meta, teenagers and young adults are currently among the most active user groups. VR goggles are so popular with children that Meta lowered the age limit for Quest headsets from 13 to 10 in 2023. Social VR platforms that enable encounters and exchanges are particularly successful, including Meta's own app "Horizon Worlds". As with social media, there is also the issue of inadequate moderation.

For the youngest users (10–12 years), Meta offers special accounts managed by parents that are restricted to age-appropriate content. For example, Horizon Worlds, which in Europe is only accessible from the age of 18, is blocked for children and young people. According to Sattizahn and Savage, the problem is that only a small percentage of parents actually use these children's accounts. In most cases, parents would set up an adult account and then leave the VR goggles to the children without knowing the dangers of the virtual worlds. As virtual reality is experienced much more physically than social media, physical assaults can also seem much more real and traumatic.

Parents can find out more about parental controls for teenagers and children's accounts on Meta's support page.

(dahe)