Undercover researcher discovers seedy underbelly of the metaverse by posing as a 13-year-old girl and experiencing threats of rape, grooming, and graphic sexual materials.
QUICK FACTS:
- A researcher went undercover in a metaverse app with a minimum age rating of 13, posing as a 13-year-old girl, and visited the virtual reality rooms of other users.
- According to The Blaze, the researcher, Jess Sherwood, experienced seeing the avatars of other users engaging in explicit acts.
- The researcher was also shown sex toys and condoms, and was approached by several adult men.
- One of the men told Sherwood that users’ avatars can “get naked and do unspeakable things” and other users discussed “erotic role-play” with the researcher posing as an early teen.
EXPERTS’ TAKE ON THE METAVERSE:
- Mr. Burrows of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said, “It’s children being exposed to entirely inappropriate, really incredibly harmful experiences … We are seeing products rolled out without any suggestion that safety has been considered.”
- Sherwood, the researcher who went undercover, said, “I was surprised how totally immersed in the spaces you are. I started to feel like a child again. So when grown men were asking why I wasn’t in school and encouraging me to engage in VR sex acts, it felt all the more disturbing.”
- “VRChat definitely felt more like an adult’s playground than a child’s. A lot of the rooms were overtly sexualized in pink neon, similar to what you might see in the red-light district in Amsterdam or in the more seedy parts of London’s Soho at night. Inside, sex toys were on display.”
- UK-based augmented and digital reality consulting firm, founder Catherine Allen said that while VR can be “fun and surreal,” it can also be “quite traumatic and disturbing.”
BACKGROUND:
- A British charity dedicated to the welfare of Great Britain’s children, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, has warned that the apps are “dangerous by design.”
- One of the reasons for the concern is the virtually nonexistent content moderation, including VRChat, which allows for immersive chat rooms.
- Some of the rooms are as friendly as a digital fast-food chain, while others are virtual strip clubs.
