Meta Now Requires Mandatory Age Confirmation on Quest Headsets

Quest 2 and 3 users must now confirm their age by reentering their birthdays on the Quest platform. Meta announced this update on April 2, stating that it aims to provide the “right experience, settings, and protections for teens and preteens.”

TechCrunch reported earlier in January that Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, had “argued that mobile app store providers like Apple and Google should be the ones to implement parental controls for social media” instead of relying on app developers to deal with the issue.

Meta is now using its Quest Virtual Reality (VR) store to demonstrate Zuckerberg’s argument about how app stores should handle age verification and parental control.

The company says users will be prompted within the next few days to verify their ages, and they have a 30-day window to re-enter their birthdates. Otherwise, their Quest accounts may be temporarily suspended. Meta intends to use 3 age groups to categorize users and ensure everyone gets age-appropriate content.

The new age tier specifications are:

• Adults (18+): Adult users will have the option to choose between private or public profiles, exercise control over the visibility of their activity, and manage interactions with followers.
• Teens (13-17): Teenage users will have a private profile by default, granting them authority over follower requests and activity visibility. Additionally, parental supervision tools will be made available to ensure enhanced safety.
• Preteens (10-12): Preteen users will necessitate parental approval for account setup, accompanied by strict privacy settings and parental control over app access.

Users can rectify previously incorrect birthdates through online verification, either by submitting government-issued ID documents or their credit card details. Meta’s ID acceptance guidelines also allow users to physically cover any non-essential information on their ID before they take a photo of the document.

“On our app store, we want to make it easier for developers to better understand the ages of people who use their apps so they can provide age-appropriate experiences for preteens, teens, and adults. Parents, in turn, can trust that apps are providing the most age-appropriate experience and protections the app offers for their child’s age,” says Meta in the announcement.