Christmas day has arrived and evidence suggests that Quest 2 was a hot gift item this year. While it may have inspired screams of joy, it appears that children under the age of 13 are not allowed to use the headset, according to Facebook. This leaves parents in the awkward position of handing over their own Facebook account credentials or having an unusable headset.
If you’re a parent who chose Quest 2 for a child under the age of 13, you may have expected to be the hero of this year’s holiday, but unfortunately, once the box is opened and the headset is on, Facebook will thwart those plans. This is due to the recent requirement that Quest 2 and other Oculus headsets be connected to a valid Facebook account and the company does not allow Facebook accounts to be made by children under the age of 13.
The 13-year limitation is seen in many account services that are required for using multiple gadgets, but is easily overridden by parents, who can choose to use their own accounts to activate devices for their children or just tell their children to spoof your age when signing up for your own account.
However, Facebook is quite unique because the company insists that the age of the account matches that of the user and will proactively close accounts if it finds out otherwise. It states very clearly: “Creating an account with false information is a violation of our terms. This includes accounts registered in the name of children under 13. […] Please note that we will immediately delete the account of any child under 13 who is reported to us […]”
In some cases, the company has even gone so far as to block accounts and ask users to send photos of government-issued identity documents to verify their name and age.
The company also prohibits “account sharing among multiple people”, which makes it technically contrary to the rules for parents to log in to the headset with their own account for their children’s use. Although the company says it plans to include multiuser support in Quest 2, each user will still need their own Facebook account (and must still be 13 or older).
Of course, parents who consider it normal for their children to use the headset can probably circumvent these rules, but the risk remains that Facebook will find this out, block the account and limit the functionality of a headset that may have cost between $ 300 and $ 400. Although the biggest risk, perhaps, is a child heartbroken that he can no longer use his shiny new gadget.
And let’s not forget the imposition of giving a child access to his Facebook account via the headset – which would allow him to share screenshots, videos and live streams of his VR activities to his Facebook community. .
It is difficult to blame any parent who falls into this trap. Although the headset product pages often include “required Facebook account” somewhere In words, can anyone blame customers for not knowing that Facebook accounts are only for people over 13? Even if they found the fine print “over 13” (which is not always included), parents should know that this is a applied rule, what could make the headset unusable, instead of a suggestion from the manufacturer?
It is a common misconception that the 13-year limitation is due to unknown health risks for younger children using VR headsets. The main reason is the U.S. Children’s Internet Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which sets out special rules for online companies that collect information about children under 13. Facebook, like many other companies, simply chooses not to allow children under 13 to access its services, instead of exposing itself to COPPA’s responsibility. So while there are many Quest 2 games that can be played entirely offline, without any data being sent to or from the headset, the Facebook account requirement imposes an age limit on Quest 2 by proxy.