Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to add a NEW Metaverse feature that could help pedophiles evade the police has been slammed

SECURITY experts have spoken out against Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to roll out encryption even further, putting children at greater risk from pedophiles in the metaverse.

The tech billionaire wants to bring the controversial end-to-end encryption into messaging and makes calls with his Quest VR headset.

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End-to-end encryption is considered essential for privacy because nobody can spy on conversations, but authorities and child protection groups fear it creates a safe haven for sick criminals.

Plans to roll it out via Facebook Messenger and Instagram were heavily criticized as a result – and pushed back.

But now Facebook owner Meta is testing it on the Quest VR headset as an optional setting.

It comes amid growing concerns about children accessing inappropriate content in the Metaverse through third-party apps that Meta does not own.

“We’ve seen story after story about children being at risk in the Metaverse, where they can meet up with adults in sex clubs and be subject to obnoxious comments and child abuse,” said Andy Burrows, head of online child safety policy at the NSPCC, opposite The Sun.

“But instead of fixing these problems, Meta appears to be recklessly bundling a combination of risks and creating products that are inherently dangerous.”

“Meta is required to publish its impact assessment for end-to-end encryption on Oculus and how this decision aligns with the ICO children’s code in the UK. If they don’t, the regulator has to be ready to investigate.”

It’s not clear how many people are currently involved in the test and how you can opt-out.

According to Meta, the security of user information is “one of our top priorities” for all of its apps and services.

“When people trust that their conversations are truly private, they feel confident in expressing themselves and building stronger online connections,” the company said in a blog post.

A representative for the company told The Sun: “The overwhelming majority of Brits already rely on messaging services that use end-to-end encryption to protect them from hackers, scammers and criminals.

“We agree on the need for strong security measures that work with encryption and are building these into our plans.”

In its v40 update, the Quest also gets new audio accessibility options, e.g. B. a way to adjust the audio balance.

It also introduces a lock pattern security feature that users can add to individual apps.

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