New Delhi: The British police are currently investigating a case where a girl’s virtual-reality avatar was allegedly gangraped in a metaverse game, in what appears to be the first such investigation into a sexual crime in this immersive digital world.
According to reports, the 16-year-old girl was playing the immersive game wearing a virtual reality headset when her avatar or animated representation was attacked by the avatars of several adult men in a “virtual” room.
🚨Police in the UK are investigating the first case of a gang rape of a girl’s avatar in a virtual reality game.
⚠️ The Metaverse creates a ‘gateway’ for predators to victimize children.
The victim, a girl under 16, was wearing a VR headset in an immersive game when her… pic.twitter.com/OEvgZAKVqL
— LionHearted (@LionHearted76) January 3, 2024
A senior police officer told UK’s Daily Mail that there was an emotional and psychological impact on the victim “that is longer-term than any physical injuries”.
However, since the teenager did not suffer any physical injury, UK authorities fear the “crime” might not be possible to prosecute under existing laws, which define sexual assault as physical touching, without consent in a sexual manner.
Ian Critchley, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead for child protection and abuse investigation, was quoted in UK daily Evening Standard as saying: “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.”
He said 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 report stated.
Critchley added that there needed to be more awareness and education that abuse can happen online, in any home, at any time. “I urge parents and carers to have what can be difficult but crucial conversations with young people to ensure they are safe and to be able to disclose any harmful behaviour in a trusted way.”
Details of the case are being kept under wraps to protect the girl involved, the report said, amid fears that a prosecution may never be possible. It also remains unclear what game the teen was playing at the time of the alleged offence.
UK Home Secretary James Cleverly has backed the probe into the case, stressing on the significance of the psychological trauma inflicted on the girl. He has warned against underestimating the seriousness of virtual crimes.
“I know it is easy to dismiss this as being not real, but the whole point of these virtual environments is they are incredibly immersive,” he told radio host Nicolo Ferrari.
“I know it is easy to dismiss this as being not real, but the whole point of these virtual environments is they are incredibly immersive,” he said, adding: “And we’re talking about a child here, and a child who has gone through sexual trauma. It had a very significant psychological effect, and we should be very, very careful about being dismissive of this.”
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