Details are slowly emerging, but British police, who have just opened a file on the case, are in no doubt about one thing: it is the “first virtual gang rape.” The victim, who was only a girl under the age of 16, was wearing a virtual reality headset when her avatar, an interactive representation of herself in the game world, was first surrounded by other male avatars and then raped.
Although the minor suffered no physical injuries, she may have suffered psychological trauma similar to physical rape victims, some police sources involved in the investigation reveal. The British Home Secretary James Cleverly is also of the same opinion: “I know it is easy to dismiss this story as if it were not real,” explains the minister, “but the main feature of these virtual environments is that they are incredibly realistic and are realistic.” captivating». A similar episode had already occurred in 2022, when researcher Nina Jane Patel reported being mistreated on Metas Horizon metaverse. Patel said she was “surrounded by three or four male avatars who began sexually harassing her virtual character.”
Raped by two men near the bus routes when she was 17
THE RISK
The fear of the British authorities now is that the perpetrators cannot be prosecuted under the rules in force in the UK: physical contact is required to be considered a crime of sexual violence. And that risks missing the first important test of the Online Safety Bill, the new online safety regulatory package passed by the UK Parliament in September. A huge step forward in the protection of minors on the Internet for a law that some experts, however, judge to be “inadequate” to regulate behavior within the metaverse and all those virtual worlds that it represents in the vision of the Bay Area giants the “ next evolution of social platforms”.
And now the news is being commented on on social media with more or less hidden nuances of sarcasm (“Couldn't you just turn off the viewer?” chimes in one user: “Can we focus on the real crimes?”), repeatedly another), but the topic is more complex. The viewers, and therefore the virtual universes they make accessible to us, are designed to be as realistic and immersive as possible. It's part of the promise of the metaverse: to create alternative worlds that can trigger an emotional connection in users. Worlds open to all (you just need a visor) that are intended to represent a safe place for children and families in Silicon Valley's marketing strategy. Children who, according to current studies by the British institute IET, spend around 10 years in virtual reality over the course of their lives – i.e. almost three hours a day.
THE INVESTIGATIONS
It is not yet clear on which platform the violence currently being investigated by British authorities occurred. And while Meta likes to point out that “this behavior has no place on our platform,” reports of virtual sex crimes in Horizon Worlds, a VR game managed by Zuckerberg’s company, are increasing. A British police investigator has revealed to the Chron that the metaverse has become “full” of online sex crimes and other types of crimes, but so far there has been no prosecution in the UK.
“It is the definitive confirmation that virtual and real are not two different worlds,” comments Ivano Zoppi, Secretary General of the Carolina Foundation, the non-profit organization dedicated to prevention, training and support in the field of digital safety for minors. “I read once again about fear and anxiety, real consequences that we face every day among young people who are victims of the darkest sides of the Internet.” The Internet is a real, true living environment. And the acts committed therein can have devastating psychological consequences.”
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on Il Messaggero