Facebook Quandary Over VR for Kids

Children played virtual reality games during an exhibition in Guangzhou, China, in 2017. Photo: AP

Facebook is eager to get VR headsets into the hands of more consumers, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg isn’t keen on rushing toward one demographic: kids.

In a recent interview with CNET (in keeping with Facebook’s new PR strategy), Zuckerberg settled in for another chat about VR and AR (you can listen to the long AR/VR convo we had with the Facebook CEO in March here). On the subject of expanding VR’s reach to children, Zuckerberg said it is “probably quite a ways” off and isn’t a top priority at Facebook. With Facebook already building an Instagram for under-13s, why is the company reluctant to roll out VR for kids?