Meta to Allow ‘Mature Content’ in Horizon Worlds

Most companies are waiting to see if the metaverse comes to be, but Facebook parent company Meta is trying to get in on the ground floor. Mark Zuckerberg is so sure of the benefits of the metaverse that he changed the name of his company to signal his commitment. Today, the metaverse is little more than a collection of ideas and predictions, but the VR-based Horizon Worlds is probably the closest thing we have right now, and Meta is making a big change to the content policy. Going forward, developers will be allowed to create “mature” content for the platform.

Until now, Horizon Worlds (formerly Facebook Horizon) has been squeaky clean. Meta executives have previously spoken about the importance of moderating this emerging online space, and unique challenges are already popping up. For example, Meta was forced to implement a “personal boundary” to the game because some users were approaching other player avatars and making sexual gestures.

UploadVR says that Meta developers who have created worlds were alerted to the change last week via email. The message told devs to add a rating to their worlds to indicate whether they were mature or not. Anyone who doesn’t update their content will see their world automatically marked as mature.

What does “mature” mean in the metaverse? Facebook isn’t going into great detail, but there are a few bullet points to help guide developers. Meta now says that sexually suggestive content is allowed, including “near” nudity and “suggestive positions.” So, VR teabagging is back on the menu, it would seem. However, Meta is still not willing to allow VR porn into Horizon Worlds.

The policy change also opens the doors to depictions of certain adult content like marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. However, Meta draws the line at depictions of illegal drugs or drug abuse. Curious, then, to call out cannabis as specifically allowed when it’s still illegal in half of the US.

Mature content in Horizon Worlds can also include “Intense or excessively violent fictional content.” That isn’t much of a surprise considering some of the most popular VR games involve shooting, smashing, and otherwise killing NPCs. Depictions of real-life violence are still banned, though.

All of the above used to be forbidden in Horizon Worlds, but you should begin to see 18+ spaces soon. The internet has been around for decades, and it’s far from squeaky clean. The metaverse probably won’t be any different in the long run.

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