Facebook parent company Meta and Project Rockit, a youth movement in Australia focused on fighting cyberbullying and online safety, have teamed up to create the Metaverse Youth Safety Guide. This guide is created to help young people using technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) stay safe online.
The guide came about thanks to the findings from a Project Rockit report titled ‘Our Metaverse: Young People and the Digital Future‘ which was first published in 2022. Project Rockit created the report by consulting 42 youth leaders who were nominated by prominent youth, mental health and tech organisations in Australia. They include the Centre for Multicultural Youth, Indigital, Minus18, Orygen, ReachOut and UNICEF Australia.
Safety in the metaverse
Mia Garlick, regional director of public policy for Meta says the company is proud to partner with Project Rockit on the launch of this practical toolkit for young people so they can engage safely with emerging AR and VR technologies.
“This new toolkit will add to the range of VR safety tools and products we have in place to ensure young people can safely enjoy exploring new technologies. It’s important we empower them to use these technologies safely, and that we give parents and guardians the resources to help navigate this ever-changing online landscape,” said Garlick.
The toolkit provides advice for both young individuals and their parents covering physical safety like ensuring VR headsets are set up properly, online safety like using privacy settings and reporting tools, and specific safety tips for virtual environments like Meta’s Horizon Worlds.
Lucy Thomas, co-founder and CEO of Project Rockit said that after the release of the study, the company created the toolkit to help young people and their families safely and confidently navigate the evolving online tech landscape.
“It is critical that we have partners like Meta who work with us to help educate our future generations, tackle online hate and create a safer, kinder and more thriving digital world,” said Thomas.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
