In an effort to combat reports of groping and sexual harassment in Meta's new VR spaces, the company announced a new "Personal Boundary" feature last month. Now the feature has been customized to enable users to turn off the setting or control it when it has been enabled.

The Personal Boundary creates a bubble of space of two virtual feet around each avatar in Meta's Horizon Worlds and Venues VR spaces. That means that avatars can only get within about four feet of each other when the feature is enabled. Meta had originally made the feature default but is now allowing users to turn it off.

Users may also opt to turn on the feature for non-Friends only, but leaving it off when interacting with people on their friends' list. Meta said it made the changes based on community feedback after rolling out the Personal Boundary feature in February. It said the new options will make it easier for people to interact, take selfies and fist-bump other avatars within the VR spaces.

Meta also commented that development for its new VR worlds has posed "what are perhaps some of the hardest challenges we’ve tackled in a generation of computing now that we’re no longer limited by fixed viewpoints and traditional flatscreen devices.”

The company said it has built in other safeguards as well. For instance, when two people meet for the first time and one has their Personal Boundary on and the other has it off, the platform will still establish a four-foot space between the two individuals. Meta also said the default boundary is set to four feet for everyone participating in live events through its Horizon Venues.