Received a Meta Quest? You will need to re-enter your age.

Are you the proud proprietor of a Meta Quest? You will need to re-verify your age if you wish to use it.

On Tuesday, Meta introduced that it is obligatory for Quest 2 and Quest 3 customers to substantiate their age by re-entering their birthday. In a blog post, Meta mentioned that such an audit of person ages on its VR headsets “helps each us and builders present the best expertise, settings, and protections for teenagers and preteens.”

“We’re doing this to assist guarantee everybody utilizing Meta Quest has entry to age-appropriate instruments, content material and protections,” reads the publish.

Quest customers will obtain a immediate to log into their Meta account and enter their birthdate — one thing that the corporate says should be carried out inside the subsequent 30 days or your account might be quickly blocked. Meta mentioned there is a risk customers might enter the unsuitable birthdate, however should you do, you possibly can confirm your age with an ID or bank card.

As soon as entered, Meta will counsel the best kind of account the person ought to have primarily based on their age: Adults (18+), Teenagers (13-17), or Preteens (10-12). Every of those account sorts has completely different settings, tiered by age by way of restrictions and defaults.

Grownup accounts have the least restrictions, in fact. They will select public or non-public profiles, and lively standing is seen to followers until you turn it off.

Teen accounts have their profile set to personal by default, and exercise and standing are hidden by default (teenagers can resolve to share these in addition to approve follower requests). Teen accounts additionally include the parental supervision controls Meta launched in 2022. Of those, Mashable’s Chase DiBenedetto writes, “Within the digital actuality world of Meta Quest, a realm of virtually frighteningly different prospects, instruments like these are an much more urgent concern. However the user-oriented instruments nonetheless have their limits in an area the place even adults can’t escape harassment, and beg us to ask how corporations can deal with the harm already carried out.”

And Preteen accounts, which have essentially the most restrictions, are often known as parent-managed accounts. Dad and mom are given management over account set-up, can decide profile and exercise settings, that are routinely set to personal, and might decide which apps a person can obtain or entry.

Coming below consistent fire for not adequately keeping young people safe on its platforms, Meta has wanted to make strikes to make its digital areas safer for teenagers and preteens — there’s now a complete Parent Guide for Quest, which accompanies Meta’s Family Center launched in 2022. In actual fact, the corporate reportedly really, really wants kids to use its platforms. Nonetheless, Meta’s recently launched teen safety features feel slightly too little, too late.