Pete
A young girl’s avatar was reportedly ‘gang-raped’ in the Metaverse, the Daily Mail was first to report.
A first-of-its-kind investigation into the matter is currently taking place in the UK.
The only details revealed about the girl is that she’s under 16. According to the report, her avatar was raped by the avatars of several men while she was using a VR headset.
While there were obviously no physical injuries, police told the Daily Mail that the victim may have suffered mentally. “There is an emotional and psychological impact on the victim that is longer-term than any physical injuries,” an officer told the publication.
James Cleverly, Secretary of State for the Home Department, supports the investigation. “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,” the senior British politician told LBC. “It will have had a very significant psychological effect and we should be very, very careful about being dismissive of this. It’s also worth realising that somebody who is willing to put a child through a trauma like that digitally may well be someone that could go on to do terrible things in the physical realm.”
The investigation has led to some debate over the way police resources are allocated, especially considering the fact that there is a whole backlog of physical rape cases.
While British authorities realize it may be hard to prosecute a case like this, since there aren’t any laws about virtual rape, some police investigators note the need for new legislation as technology continues to progress.
“The metaverse creates a gateway for predators to commit horrific crimes against children,” Ian Critchley from the National Police Chiefs’ Council told the Daily Mail.
