Is Facebook (Meta) using our kids to build value in the metaverse?
Issue #41
I’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s expensive and time-consuming to properly build technology that’s safe for kids. That’s why so many Big Tech companies would rather pretend that kids aren’t using their products. We’ve seen it before when Google (YouTube) and TikTok wanted to grow their audience and pump their user metrics—and they turned a blind eye to the fact that children were using their 13+ platforms.
Of course, these companies can’t keep up the illusion forever. After all, it’s fairly easy to see when millions of children are using these platforms. Eventually, it reaches a point where the FTC must intervene—but the fines the companies face as a result? They’re not large enough to be a real deterrent. When YouTube was hit with a record $170M fine for violating children’s privacy, experts estimated that parent company Google would make that money back in less than a day. When TikTok was fined $5.7M for violating children’s privacy, parent company ByteDance was valued at $75B. These fines are just the cost of doing business.
I see Meta (previously known as Facebook) using the same playbook in their attempt to grow the metaverse. There’s evidence that the company’s Quest VR headsets were a popular Christmas present in 2021. Rachel Metz, a senior tech writer at CNN, dug into the numbers. She reported that “Tech market researcher IDC forecast shipments of 9.4 million VR headsets in 2021, 3.6 million of which were expected to ship out during the holiday season, research manager Jitesh Ubrani said. IDC believes the Quest 2 makes up more than three-quarters of those headsets. While demographic data isn't available, Urbani suspects that lots of kids received them as holiday gifts.”
A lot of the popular gaming devices on the market, (like those made by Nintendo and Playstation, for example) have built in parental controls. Many devices connect with apps that let parents restrict content, monitor activity, impose time limits—and adjust settings as kids grow. But the Quest 2, unlike most popular gaming devices on the market, doesn’t have any parental controls built in.
When asked about the devices’ lack of parental controls, a Meta spokesperson told CNN Business that they were "not designed" for children younger than 13, and that headset packaging and onboarding videos make this age restriction clear. Okay, but have they met children? They designed a new, cutting-edge gaming device. Of course children will want to use it! And when there’s no alternative that’s actually designed for kids, parents can’t be blamed for wanting to give their kids access. I suspect that Meta knows all of this. I bet they’re even hoping for it. It’s cold calculus: they want the sales and the growth from young audiences but they don’t want the headache of making the devices compliant for kids. And any fines they might face would be negligible with their $86B in annual revenue.
Meta is taking a measured risk and using our children to build value in the metaverse. And the possibility of fines? Why would that worry them? The last time they incurred a record-breaking $5B fine, their share price actually increased. So what’s to stop them from doing it again?
A deeper dive
Here are a few helpful resources in case you want to really dig into today's topic:
This matters because we don’t yet know what implications VR technology could have on our kids. And Meta has a lot of unintended consequences in its wake. As Matt Olson writes, “I do not envy the position that policy professionals at Meta are in. The company has taken the route of ignoring pressing matters like data harvesting on Facebook and unfettered message forwarding on WhatsApp until they’ve reached boiling points with political and life-or-death consequences.”
While we don’t know what the future of VR holds, we do have a pretty good idea what will happen when Meta builds the head sets. Tatum Hunter at the Washington Post points out that Meta’s access to your data has been somewhat restricted because they don’t dictate the rules for access on your device. Apple or Google or other hardware developers do. But if they make their own devices (i.e. a VR head set), they get to decide what data they collect.
TL;DR
Too long; didn't read. It shouldn't be a full-time job to keep up on industry news, so here is a mercifully quick summary of some other notable developments:
Is it still January? To say the least, it’s been a... long month for parents. “With schools and day cares around the country either closed or what I’ll generously call “in flux,” and the collective sanity of the nation’s parents imperiled by omicron, the TV has become a high-functioning third parent in my household,” writes Amil Niazi. Read on to learn how Disney’s new hit Encanto is providing some relief for families... even after the hundredth watch.
Did you hear? Microsoft is planning to buy Activision, the makers of Candy Crush and Call of Duty, for billions of dollars. Experts suspect that this is their bid to get in on the Metaverse action, but some don’t think Big Tech should be the only architects for the next iteration of technology. Tech columnist Shira Ovide writes, “I don’t know that any of these Big Tech companies know exactly what they want a more immersive internet to look like. I also don’t know that we want Mark Zuckerberg or Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, to dictate the future of virtual human interactions.”
And lastly
Here are a few more pieces of original writing from me and my team—just in case you're keen for more:
We’re pretty serious about our mission at Kinzoo, and every decision we make has to pass the pressure test and make sense for our big picture goals. Recently, my team reflected on how our mission helped shape our messenger last year. You can learn more here!
If you have little kids with long-distance grandparents, you know the struggle around video calling is real. We had a chance to talk to the founder of Together, a video platform that helps make video calls engaging, playful and fun for the whole family. Check out his interview here.
Okay, that's it from me until next time. If you enjoyed this newsletter, and know of another parent who would as well, please feel free to forward it along.