How Metaverse Is Turning Into A Breeding Ground For Child Abuse

TW: Child Sexual Abuse!

This is a blood curdling account of a BBC investigation that exposed the underbelly of the Metaverse. All seems glitzy and glamorous and enomoring in the virtual world, with MetaMalls opening, Metamates buying and selling and building real estates, dating, weddings, business events, prayers and worship and what not. The Metaverse encompasses the whole gamut of it. Including the gory and the gruesome and the ugly!

During an undercover tour of the virtual world, the BBC investigator posed as a 13 year old girl. The digital avatar was harassed, catcalled and chased. She also witnessed a virtual mass orgy going on in a strip club! Surprisingly (or maybe not), minors were not barred from entering these shady establishments.

Virtual hangouts like VRChat offer room for real life conversation and meetup in the Metaverse. Whilst there’s McDonald in the VRChat, there’s strip clubs and pole dancing too!

With niche MicroVerses of cliques and self-serving communities popping up, Metaverse won’t be a virtual utopia as prophesied. Virtual ghettos will exist parallely to the privileged community of NFT millionaires and trillionaires. A real world replica of life will exist in the Metaverse. What does that mean? Real world scams. Real world crimes. Real world abuses. Real world trafficking. You name it. All of these will mutually exist in the virtual world. Where do we go from here though?

The bare minimum you could do is

1. Support organisations that are diligently working to eradicate child sex abuse and trafficking from around the world. Organisations like Thorn (founded by Ashton Kutcher) are building tech to trace abuses, track the trafficked and restore their lives.
2. Plea the big tech for moderation and vigilance in the Metaverse to restrict access to the young and the vulnerables from falling prey. Voice your opinion through socials, campaigns, protests and art maybe!
3. Report any suspicious activity around you, in the real and the virtual world.
4. Keep yourself educated about these issues and help your ward understand the threats out there.
5. Not to belittle the awesome technology that Metaverse is but always remember it ain’t the substitute for real world!

Before you put on that oculus, go out and breathe in the bliss of the physical realm.

SEE ALSO: Meta Has A Fix For Virtual Groping In Its Social VR Space, Horizon Worlds

Cover Image: Pixabay