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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Police are investigating a virtual sexual assault of a girl's avatar, the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners has said.

Donna Jones said she had learned that a complaint was made in 2023, triggering a police inquiry.

The virtual incident did not result in physical harm but caused "psychological trauma", the Daily Mail has reported a source as saying. Police chiefs have called on platforms to do more to protect their users.

The impact of the attack on the girl's avatar was said to be heightened because of the immersive nature of the VR experience.

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[-] Cornpop@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Omfg this is so absurdly stupid. What a waste of time for the police who have actual issues to be concerned with.

[-] qaz@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The article seems a bit silly, but online harassment is an actual issue and can have a big impact, especially for minors. The way it's presented, especially the Daily Mail article (“British police probe VIRTUAL rape in metaverse” and the mentioning of AI) is a significant (perhaps deliberate) misunderstanding of the problem for the sake of clicks. In reality, this situation isn't that different compared to Omgele back in the day, but instead it's compared to physical SA. I think this kind of clickbait reporting does not contribute to bringing awareness to the issue of digital harassment, nor to a greater understanding required to solve it. It's presented as a new threat (like DM likes to do), but in fact this is simply a new form of online harassment, like we've been seeing for years.

Kids as young as 8 years old are being given unsupervised access to the internet. This alone seems very unhealthy, but it also means that other individuals get access to them. Grooming and online harassment have been an issue since SMS, and probably will be. The police does not have the expertise and capacity (or perhaps motivation) required to deal with these situations. The online platforms fail at moderation, some allow users to send death threats while using some bot to block swearwords. Malicious actors rarely face any consequences online. The parents also usually don't have a clue about what their kids are doing, nor how the platforms their kids use work, which means they are unable to teach their kids what to avoid.

I believe to solve these issues, this kind of behavior should come with actual consequences. However, I don't have high hopes this will help soon. I therefore believe education also plays a role, both for the parent and their children. Kids should learn about social norms for the internet and what to do when people disregard them, and parents should have the knowledge to help them. The platforms themselves should also take action, the amount of moderators on social media is pathetic. Facebook has millions of users but only has 54 moderators (spanning all their services including Instagram) to moderate posts in my country's language. Current social media is a breeding ground for disinformation, rage, and harassment, not because it's impossible not to, but because all major platforms have switched to an engagement based algorithm.

[-] quams69@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

I grabbed mossmans boobas in hl2 gmod vr the fbi are at my door help

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

I'm not in the metaverse and wouldn't be in VR because of cost even if I were. So, question: what exactly is supposed to have happened here? Someone's avatar pushed someone else's avatar into a virtual corner?

[-] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Not even that, I can almost guarantee they don't have movable hit boxes. It was probably the classic COD thing of teabagging or simulated thrusting by moving back and forth while talking dirty over voice comms.

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[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

a bunch of people sexually harassed a child, calling it "virtual sexual assault" is the clickbait headline that quotes one anonymous person's opinion

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[-] chitak166@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Tax dollars hard at work.

[-] blazeknave@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Remember when the Internet was new? Know how kids still get pedo'd now?

Setting precedent early is important. There will be billions of people in this soon enough and without regulation, it's Westworld.

[-] theKalash@feddit.ch 2 points 10 months ago

So I guess the meta verse finally got around to adding legs to the avatars?

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Everyone is focused on if there should be legal repercussions for this, and while that's valid, there's another point to make.

It's that sexual assault, rape, sexual harassment, etc. is so heinously awful, that even in this watered down, synthetic, polygon avatar VR version of it is enough to seriously harm someone.

Being made to feel as if you're worthless, and just a piece of meat to be ogled and used for others perverted pleasure, is so fucking terribly awful, that the Nintendo 64 version will leave you forever changed for the worse.

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[-] MYCOOLNEJM@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

In a game?? I kinda understand harrasment over the phone or messages or whatever, but in the game? Just change servers or fucking turn off your pc, lmao. Games are not a real place

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this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
164 points (80.6% liked)

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