Meta reportedly suppressed research about how dangerous its VR headsets are for kids

The article reports that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, allegedly suppressed research that suggested children were exposed to certain dangers when using its VR headsets. Current and former employees have presented documents to Congress, describing incidents where children were groomed by adult predators in VR. The documents indicate that internal reports were edited to omit the worst of these offenses, and that Meta's legal team instructed researchers to avoid collecting data about children using VR devices, likely due to regulatory concerns. The article also mentions that Meta has lowered the minimum age for using VR headsets to 10 years old, despite warnings from employees that children younger than 13 were bypassing age restrictions. Meta has denied these allegations, stating that the documents were "stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative." However, the article notes that a Senate Judiciary subcommittee is scheduled to discuss these allegations at a hearing later in the week, as they examine laws and regulations regarding online safety.