Democratic Senators Push Against Meta’s Idea of Bringing the Metaverse to Teens

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A letter from two U.S. senators cited reports of Instagram being behind many teenagers experiencing suicidal thoughts, and Meta's failure to stop harmful ads aimed at young adults.

Two United States senators have penned a letter asking Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to halt a plan to allow young adults to access the firm’s metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds.

In a March 1 letter, Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal said that Meta’s reported plan to “invite young users into a digital space rife with potential harms” should not be implemented if the strategy was driven by profit. According to the two lawmakers, allowing teenagers between 13 and 17 years old access to the virtual environment posed “serious risks”, citing privacy concerns, eye strain, and online bullying.

“Meta’s plan to target young people with offerings in the metaverse is particularly concerning in light of your consistent failures to protect young users,” said Markey and Blumenthal to Zuckerberg. “With a documented track record of failure to protect children and teens, Meta has lost parents’, pediatricians’, policymakers’, and the public’s trust.”

Just like the internet today, the metaverse will have both public venues as well as spaces for more private conversations. And you’ll be able to choose how you want to participate. pic.twitter.com/JoGjrHmnlc
— Meta (@Meta) January 25, 2022

The two senators cited reports of Instagram being behind many teenagers experiencing suicidal thoughts, as well as the firm’s failure to stop ads for “tobacco, alcohol, and eating disorder content” targeted at young adults:

“As our constituents grow increasingly concerned about the effects of online platforms and social media apps on teens’ well-being, your plans to imminently pull these young people into an under-researched, potentially dangerous virtual realm with consequences for their physical and mental health is unacceptable.”

Markey, a junior senator representing Massachusetts, has previously signed on to legislation targeting the environmental impact of crypto mining and called on mining firms to answer questions regarding data collection. Blumenthal was behind a bill in the last session of the U.S. Congress aimed at allowing third-party applications and app stores on devices released from major tech firms.

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Meta CEO Zuckerberg steadfast on metaverse plans despite .7B setback

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During a Q4 earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg said he saw no reason to deviate from the company’s long-term metaverse strategy.

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company has no plans to change its long-term strategy for the metaverse, despite operating losses for its Reality Labs business peaking in 2022.

Meta on Feb. 1 released earnings showing that Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022 — the largest ever yearly losses recorded for its metaverse-building division.

The fourth quarter was particularly costly, with the division losing nearly $4.3 billion, which was also the largest quarterly loss within the department since financials for the business were first published.

On a Feb. 1 earnings call, Zuckerberg was steadfast in the company’s metaverse strategy. Answering a question about how the firm’s efficiency applies to Reality Labs, he answered:

“None of the signals that I've seen so far suggest that we should shift the Reality Labs strategy long term.”

He added that later in 2023 the company would launch another “next generation consumer headset” following the October launch of its Quest Pro Virtual Reality (VR) headset.

*The Meta Quest Pro is the tech firm’s latest, and most expensive, VR headset offering. Source: Meta*

Meta’s chief financial officer, Susan Li, similarly doubled down on the Reality Labs business, echoing Zuckerberg’s statement from a Q3 earnings call that losses in the business would increase in 2023.

“We still expect our full-year Reality Labs losses to increase in 2023, and we're gonna continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see.”

Meta’s overall revenue for the fourth quarter was $32.1 billion, beating Wall Street expectations.

The better-than-expected revenue figures caused Meta’s stock price to jump after the bell, gaining nearly 19.5% in after-hours trading at the time of writing, according to Yahoo Finance.

Meta gets court win in metaverse acquisition plans: Report

February 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Should the Federal Trade Commission not appeal the ruling, Meta would likely be able to acquire additional companies offering metaverse-related products or services.

A federal judge in the United States has reportedly given approval for tech giant Meta to move forward on acquiring a virtual reality company.

According to a Feb. 1 report from Bloomberg, Judge Edward Davila in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied an injunction by the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, as part of an effort to block Meta from purchasing VR firm Within. However, he also reportedly issued a temporary restraining order preventing Meta from closing the deal for at least a week.

The ruling was part of a lawsuit filed by the FTC against Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in July in an attempt to block the tech firm from “its ultimate goal of owning the entire ‘metaverse.’” Meta had planned to purchase Within and its fitness app Supernatural, allegedly to acquire a potential threat to its metaverse plans.

Before rebranding to Meta, Facebook faced a similar “anticompetitive conduct” FTC complaint in 2020 for its acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 and Instagram in 2012 for allegedly stifling innovation by buying the competition. The messaging and photo sharing applications had been potential challengers to Facebook’s Messenger app and social media site.

If successful in its legal efforts, Meta would likely be able to acquire small companies offering metaverse-related products or services and have them operate under its umbrella rather than as competitors. The FTC reportedly has a week to file an appeal to Judge Davila’s decision.

Zuckerberg said in a November interview that Meta was “powering through” any doubts regarding its metaverse ambitions. The company reported $3.67 billion in losses for the third quarter of 2022, with expectations that these numbers would increase in 2023. Meta’s earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2022 will be released on Feb. 1.

Meta.