{"id":125511,"date":"2023-07-01T17:49:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T17:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=125511"},"modified":"2023-07-01T17:49:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T17:49:30","slug":"zuckerbergs-meta-is-leading-edge-in-making-human-beings-into-virtual-zeros-tech-expert-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/zuckerbergs-meta-is-leading-edge-in-making-human-beings-into-virtual-zeros-tech-expert-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Zuckerberg\u2019s Meta Is \u2018Leading Edge in Making Human Beings Into Virtual Zeros,\u2019 Tech Expert Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of nearly 70 \u201ctop children\u2019s rights advocates and those promoting online privacy<\/em>\u201d told Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook\u2019s parent company, Meta, to stop targeting children and teens in its marketing scheme for the company\u2019s virtual reality (VR) metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The advocates \u2014 including Parents Television and Media Council and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy \u2014 said in a letter to Zuckerberg:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe undersigned \u2014 a total of 36 organizations and 37 experts on young people\u2019s development \u2014 write to urge you to immediately cancel plans to lure users aged 13 to 17 to Horizon Worlds, and to prohibit minors from using the platform until Meta can demonstrate that engaging in such a continually evolving virtual reality (VR) environment is safe for their wellbeing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing the \u201cwell-documented malefic impacts of 2D social media<\/em>\u201d on young people, the advocates said Meta \u201cshould wait for more peer-reviewed research<\/em>\u201d on the potential risks of the metaverse to ensure children\u2019s and teens\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the advocates\u2019 letter, Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D., author of Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom<\/em>, agreed the metaverse poses a danger for children and teens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe metaverse is used to displace physical-world experience with a simulated reality<\/em>,\u201d Rectenwald said, \u201cand, due to the reduced satisfactions of the real world, the metaverse has become preferable to non-virtual reality for many people. Meta\u2019s \u2018Horizon Worlds\u2019 circumscribes the horizons of its young users and limits them to a simulacrum.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Rectenwald told The Defender<\/em> that Horizon Worlds\u2019<\/em> potential harm to youth goes beyond what the advocates described in their letter. He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe harms are more fundamental: that of consigning users to a consensual hallucination that replaces material reality and leads to the waste of human potential and the loss of real meaning.<\/em><\/p>\n

In lieu of reality, the metaverse delivers ontological bewilderment, identity transmutation and reality disfigurement. Zuckerberg\u2019s Meta is the leading edge in making human beings into virtual zeros in the digital realm<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on May 3 accused Meta of violating its $5 billion privacy settlement and called for toughening up restrictions on the company, alleging the company improperly shared user data with third parties and failed to protect children as promised.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the FTC said Meta should be banned from monetizing data it collects from younger users and should be barred from releasing any new products until a third-party auditor determines the company\u2019s privacy policies do enough to protect users.<\/p>\n

Metaverse is \u2018endangering children\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the advocates, \u201cMeta has invested heavily in \u2018Horizon Worlds\u2019 and it appears that Meta\u2019s investment in VR is failing, and endangering children in the process.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a> by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that minors on Meta\u2019s VR platform were \u201croutinely exposed to harassment and abuse \u2014 including sexually explicit insults and racist, misogynistic, and homophobic harassment \u2014 and other offensive content<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cParents would be shocked to learn what\u2019s going on behind the closed doors of \u2018Horizon Worlds,\u2019 where kids and teens are being assaulted with abusive conduct and harmful content, with no one to intervene<\/em>,\u201d the advocates said, adding: \u201cAll of the harms associated with excessive use of virtual communication networks and digital devices have the potential to be exacerbated on VR platforms<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the CCDH reported 51 incidents of abusive behavior to Meta, the company provided no response and \u201cno report of action taken or even acknowledgment of receipt of the complaints<\/em>,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The CCDH also is the author of The Disinformation Dozen<\/em>, which includes Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/em> chairman on leave.<\/p>\n

Meta \u2014 which reported revenue of $28.1 billion in the first quarter of 2023 \u2014 is targeting teens to protect its bottom line by creating lifelong users who, by their presence and support, make the platform seem trendy.<\/p>\n

The advocates pointed out that a memo leaked to The Wall Street Journal<\/em> revealed Meta plans to open up Horizon Worlds<\/em> to teens in order to drive profits.<\/p>\n

In an internal memo cited by the WSJ<\/em>, Horizon Worlds Vice President Gabriel Aul told staff that improving user retention among youth users was a top priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what may be good for your bottom line may be incredibly harmful to young people<\/em>,\u201d the advocates said.<\/p>\n

The advocates pointed out that two senators recently urged Meta to halt its plans to open Horizon Worlds<\/em> to teen users, citing Meta\u2019s track record of putting profit before children\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

For instance, the Messenger Kids<\/em> app, intended for children between the ages of 6 and 12, contained a serious design flaw that allowed kids to circumvent limits and interact with strangers.<\/p>\n

Meta also failed to stop tobacco, alcohol and eating disorder content ads from targeting teens on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Meta\u2019s own internal research indicates that the company\u2019s virtual communication platform Instagram makes teen girls feel worse about their bodies \u2014 and that teens in the U.S. and U.K. have traced their suicidal thoughts to Instagram.<\/p>\n

Until Meta has procured \u201cindependent research which reliably details [the] potential impacts on adolescents\u2019 wellbeing<\/em>\u201d and mitigated \u201cthe dangers of abuse, harassment, exposure to harmful content, and the other risks to the wellbeing of children and teens<\/em>,\u201d the company should keep Horizon Worlds<\/em> closed to users under 18 years of age, the advocates concluded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nJuly 1, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of nearly 70 \u201ctop children\u2019s rights advocates and those promoting online privacy\u201d told Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook\u2019s parent company, Meta, to stop targeting children and teens in its marketing scheme for the company\u2019s virtual reality (VR) metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds. The advocates \u2014 including Parents Television and Media Council and the Parent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-threat-of-artificial-intelligence-3480-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125515,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125511\/revisions\/125515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}