VR and the Metaverse: Keeping Young People Safe in Virtual Worlds

A New Frontier for Online Safety

Virtual reality (VR) and metaverse platforms represent the next generation of digital social environments, and young people are among their most enthusiastic early users. Platforms including Roblox, VRChat, Horizon Worlds, Rec Room, and others allow users to interact in three-dimensional virtual spaces using avatars, voice communication, and increasingly immersive technology. Standalone VR headsets have become affordable enough that many households now own them, and the demographic using them skews significantly toward children and teenagers.

The safety challenges these environments present are distinct from those of traditional social media or gaming. The immersive, embodied nature of VR experiences creates new forms of harassment and exploitation. The technical maturity of the platforms varies enormously in terms of their safety features. And the social norms and moderation systems that govern behaviour in virtual worlds are still evolving rapidly. Families who are aware of the specific risks can take meaningful steps to protect young people while allowing them to benefit from the genuine opportunities these technologies offer.

The Unique Risks of Immersive Virtual Environments

Avatar-Based Harassment and Virtual Contact

One of the most significant and least discussed risks of VR environments is the potential for harassment that uses the immersive, embodied nature of the technology. In traditional online environments, harassment takes the form of text, images, or voice. In VR, other users can move their avatars into physical proximity with a young person's avatar, perform simulated physical actions, and create experiences of violation that feel qualitatively different from text-based harassment.

Researchers and journalists have documented cases of sexual harassment in VR environments, including unwanted avatar contact, explicit sexual behaviour performed near or at another user's avatar, and verbal sexual harassment. For young people using these platforms, this can be a genuinely disturbing experience. The immersive nature of VR means that the psychological impact of such harassment may be closer to that of real-world incidents than the equivalent in a text-based environment.

Most VR platforms have personal space features or safe zone tools that prevent other avatars from approaching within a certain distance, but these features are often not activated by default and may not be known to new users.

Inappropriate Content and Adult Communities

VR social platforms are used by a very wide age range of users, and the division between spaces intended for children and those intended for adults is often inadequate. Children and teenagers can easily end up in adult-oriented virtual spaces that contain sexual content, graphic violence, drug references, or other inappropriate material. Without robust age verification and content zonation, the default experience on many platforms exposes young users to content far beyond their age.

User-generated content in metaverse environments presents particular moderation challenges. Virtual worlds in which users can build their own spaces, objects, and interactions are extremely difficult to moderate in real time. Content that would be prohibited on a managed platform can exist in user-generated virtual spaces without immediate detection.

Grooming and Predatory Behaviour

The same grooming dynamics that occur on social media and gaming platforms are present in VR environments, with some additional risk factors. The immersive, social nature of VR encourages users to form what feel like close relationships relatively quickly. Voice communication creates a sense of real personal connection. Avatars can be designed to appear to match the age and interests of young users, masking the actual identity of the person behind them.

Young people who form friendships in VR may be gradually moved toward more private virtual spaces, and subsequently toward communication outside the platform on less moderated channels, using the same escalation pattern seen in other grooming contexts.

Privacy and Data Collection

VR headsets collect an extraordinary amount of personal data. Biometric data including eye tracking, facial expressions, voice patterns, body movement, and hand gestures can all be captured by advanced VR hardware. This data is far more intimate and potentially sensitive than the data collected by standard digital devices, and the privacy implications of this collection are still being worked out both by regulators and by the companies involved.

Children and teenagers using VR devices are generating biometric data that is in some cases stored by platform operators, potentially indefinitely. The uses to which this data may be put, including advertising targeting and emotional analysis, are concerning from a child privacy perspective. Parents should review the privacy policies of VR platforms their children use and understand what data is collected and how it is used.

Physical Safety and Health Risks

VR use carries physical risks that are specific to the technology. Spatial disorientation and loss of awareness of the physical environment are significant risks, particularly for younger users. Falling, colliding with furniture, or walking into walls are not uncommon during VR sessions, particularly for inexperienced users who become immersed in the virtual environment and lose awareness of their physical surroundings.

Motion sickness affects a significant proportion of VR users, particularly with intense or fast-moving virtual experiences. This tends to affect children more than adults. Long VR sessions can also cause eye strain and headaches. Most headset manufacturers recommend limiting use for children, typically advising that children under 12 should not use VR headsets, though this guidance is not consistently followed.

Practical Safety Strategies for Families

Several practical measures can significantly improve the safety of young people's VR and metaverse experiences. Exploring VR platforms together before allowing independent use gives parents first-hand knowledge of the environment, including the social dynamics, the moderation quality, and the content present. What is described on a platform's marketing page and what the actual user experience involves can be quite different.

Enabling all available safety features before a young person begins using a platform is essential. These typically include personal space settings, content filtering, communication restrictions (limiting who can contact you), and reporting tools. These features are often not enabled by default because they reduce the social richness of the experience; they need to be actively configured.

Restricting communication to known contacts only is a significant protective measure, particularly for younger users. Disabling open voice chat with strangers and limiting social interactions to friends and family reduces exposure to the most common vectors for harassment and grooming.

Limiting session length and ensuring VR use occurs in a supervised area of the home allows oversight and prevents the physical risks of extended, unsupervised immersive use. A clear physical play area, free of obstacles and furniture, is important for safe VR use.

Keeping communication open about VR experiences is as important as technical controls. Asking regularly about what platforms are being used, who young people are interacting with, and whether anything uncomfortable has happened creates the trust and communication needed for young people to come forward if they have a negative experience.

The Positive Case for VR

Alongside the risks, VR and metaverse platforms offer genuine and significant opportunities for young people. Virtual environments support creative expression, collaborative play, social connection across geographical distances, and increasingly, educational experiences that would be impossible in the physical world. These benefits are real and worth preserving through informed, proportionate safety measures rather than blanket prohibition.

As with all new technologies, the goal is not to prevent engagement but to ensure that engagement is as safe and beneficial as possible. The platforms themselves have a significant responsibility to invest in safety infrastructure, including age verification, default-safe settings, and robust moderation. Families navigating these environments today are doing so ahead of the regulatory and technical frameworks that will eventually provide stronger baseline protections, making parental awareness and active engagement especially important in the near term.