Featured Image Credit: Zunino Celotto/Getty Images / PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Crime, Gaming, Technology
Chelsea Connor
Topics: Crime, Gaming, Technology
Warning: This article contains information some readers may find distressing
A criminal investigation has been launched after a girl aged under 16 was attacked online in a 'virtual sexual offence'.
Police in the UK are set to launch an investigation after a teenage girl was 'attacked' virtually, which saw her avatar character be ‘gang raped’ on a child’s video game in the Metaverse - the virtual reality world launched by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg.
Although the player - a girl under 16 years of age - received no physical injuries, she has been left with lasting psychological effects after virtual attack and is currently suffering from severe emotional trauma, the Daily Mail reports.
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The victim was in an ‘online room’ with many other players as the ‘online rape’ took place, and the game is played with a Virtual Reality headset to make game play as immersive as possible, which would of made the attack feel lurid to the victim while wearing it.
Details about the case are reportedly being kept under wraps to protect the child amid concern a prosecution for the online assault is not viable.
A senior officer familiar with the case said to the Daily Mail: “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.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time an attack has taken place an an online game, as multiple Horizon World players have also filed reports of being sexually attacked by other players of the game - which is also ran by Meta.
Ian Critchley, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead for child protection and abuse investigation, said: “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 [passed in 2023] is instrumental to this, and we must see much more action from tech companies to do more to make their platforms safe places.
"The current situation is unacceptable and is leading to widespread grooming and exploitation of children. This must change."
In response to the incident, a spokesperson for Meta told the Mail: "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.”
UNILAD has reached out to Meta for further comment, but received no response at the time of publication.