In a shocking incident, a 16-year-old girl from the United Kingdom was the victim of a gang rape in the Meta-owned Metaverse in the first incident of alleged rape in a virtual reality game. The British police have opened an inquiry into the matter. Multiple adult men abused her avatar, a digital representation of herself while she was engaged in an immersive online game using an augmented reality headset. Notably, the metaverse is an ambitious technological endeavour by Meta headed by billionaire businessman Mark Zuckerberg.
The minor was not subjected to any injuries to her body as it was a virtual attack, however, the psychological suffering inflicted on her was akin to an attack in the physical world. “This child experienced psychological trauma similar to that of someone who has been physically raped. There is an emotional and psychological impact on the victim that is longer term than any physical injuries. It poses a number of challenges for law enforcement given current legislation is not set up for this,” informed one police official.
The virtual rape took place in Horizon Worlds, the flagship Metaverse game Meta Platforms. It is a multi-player virtual platform where players interact with each other through their avatars, and the game is played using virtual reality headsets.
Ian Critchley, the lead investigator for child abuse and protection at the National Police Chiefs’ Council issued a warning on 31st December and stated that “the metaverse creates a gateway for predators to commit horrific crimes against children.” Concerns that a prosecution might not be viable for several reasons have led to the alarming virtual reality case’s details being kept under wraps to protect the child.
He added, “We know offenders’ tactics to groom and commit offences are constantly evolving. This is why our collective fight against predators like in this case, is essential to ensuring young people are protected online and can use technology safely without threat or fear. The metaverse creates a gateway for predators to commit horrific crimes against children, crimes we know have lifelong impacts both emotionally and mentally. As such, our policing approach must continually evolve to enable us to relentlessly pursue predators and safeguard victims across all online spaces. The passing of the Online Safety Act is instrumental to this, and we must see much more action from tech companies to do more to make their platforms safe places.”
The free virtual reality (VR) online game Horizon Worlds which is owned by Meta has experienced a number of reported sex attacks. The users build their animated online avatars in Horizon Worlds which they can customize and manage while donning their virtual reality headset and related gear. Psychotherapist and metaverse researcher Nina Jane Patel has detailed her “surreal nightmare” of being gang-raped in Horizon Venues.
Women and children should have more protection, per Association of Police and Crime Commissioners chairman Donna Jones who proclaimed, “We need to update our laws because they have not kept pace with the risks of harm that are developing from artificial intelligence and offending on platforms like the metaverse. The Government needs to look at changing the law to protect women and children from harm in these virtual environments.”
According to a top police official, sexual offences in the metaverse are currently “rife.” However, despite cops receiving complaints of other potential infractions, such as the theft of one avatar’s costly sword, no prosecutions for such acts have been brought to justice in the country thus far. The police mentioned that advancements in gaming have created new opportunities for cybercrime, such as malware, fraud, identity theft and virtual robberies.
However, as sexual misconduct is defined by the Sexual Offences Act as the physical touching of another person for sexual purposes without that person’s agreement, it is unlikely that the current laws will extend to rape in the metaverse. Geographical boundaries are additionally blurred by the nature of the metaverse, making it challenging to identify which law enforcement agency has jurisdiction over a given occurrence when users and offenders are in separate locations.
A Meta spokesperson denounced the occurrence and conveyed, “The kind of behaviour described has no place on our platform, which is why for all users we have an automatic protection called personal boundary, which keeps people you don’t know a few feet away from you.” Tech companies, led by co-founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg have wagered billions of pounds to entice individuals of all ages to enter the virtual world of the metaverse where they are offered the opportunity to live digitally enhanced dream lives.
Law enforcement officials are now advocating for legislation to address the surge in sexual crimes in this area noting that enforcement tactics need to change to prevent perverts from exploiting minors using modern technologies. However, given that police and prosecutors are now dealing with a massive backlog of real rape cases, the recent event has raised concerns about whether police should be investigating virtual offences and whether such an attack should be prosecuted under the existing rules.
