UK ICO wants to talk to Meta about child protection in VR
If the Oculus headset if found to break child safety rules, Meta could face a fine of up to four per cent of its annual global turnover
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is seeking to talk with Mark Zuckerberg's Meta about the parental control features on its popular Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, looking for clarification on whether the device complies with the recently established Children's Code.
Child safety campaigners have warned that the £300 device lacks parental controls and could breach the new protection code.
Research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a campaign group, found multiple incidents of abuse on VRChat, a popular social tool for Oculus users.
In one instance, CCDH found a young person's avatar being followed by two heavily breathing men. In another case, a male reportedly joked in front of an under-18 that he was a "convicted sex offender."
Baroness Beeban Kidron, creator of the Children's Code, said she was concerned the Oculus platform has made it too easy for children to expose themselves to abuse, harassment, and sexual content.
Meta may be asking its VR users to use a Facebook account (which requires a user's age to be at least 13), but that doesn't necessarily means the company is also implementing the Code's age checks, said Kidron. Children can enter potentially harmful VR chatrooms simply by ticking a check box to say they're mature enough.
The ICO wants to know if Meta's VR headsets and services offer enough measures to protect children's privacy and data.
"Online services and products that use personal data and are likely to be accessed by children are required to comply with the standards of our children's code," said an ICO spokesperson.
"We are planning further discussions with Meta on its children's privacy and data-protection-by-design approaches to Oculus products and virtual reality services. Parents and children who have concerns about how their data is being handled can complain to us at the ICO."
What is the Children's Code?
The UK's Age Appropriate Design Code (aka the 'Children Code') is a set of regulations written into law as part of the 2018 Data Protection Act. The code originally came into force in September 2020, but the ICO delayed its implementation to allow a 12-month grace period for organisations to prepare for compliance.
The Children's Code contains 15 standards that companies must implement in any digital services used by children: from social media sites and apps to online games, connected toys, and even educational and news websites.
Meta might face a slew of penalties if the ICO deems the company has violated the code.
Officials could issue a warning, impose a fixed financial penalty of £17.5 million, or issue a fine up to four per cent of global turnover.
In a statement, a Meta representative told The Guardian that the company was committed to honouring the ICO's rules, and was confident that its VR technology satisfies the Code's requirements.
The spokesperson emphasised that children under the age of 13 are not permitted to use its products under the company's terms of service, although the statement did not address concerns that it was too easy for minors to disregard this policy.
Meta says it is committed to a $50 million (about £37 million) initiative to ensure that its metaverse development complies with all applicable laws and regulations.