Police are looking into a reported instance of a girl's avatar being sexually assaulted, said the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.
Donna Jones stated that it came to her knowledge that a grievance was lodged in 2023, prompting a police investigation.
A source told the Daily Mail that, although there wasn't any physical harm sustained, the virtual incident did result in "psychological trauma".
Law enforcement heads have urged social media websites to take further measures to safeguard their customers.
Ian Critchley from the NPCC declared the metaverse, which is a term used for all the different types of virtual three-dimensional spaces and technologies, to be a "doorway for perpetrators to carry out egregious offenses against minors; offenses we are carefully aware can permanently damage them emotionally and psychologically".
He insisted that tech corporations should step up their efforts to ensure their websites and applications are secure.
The NPCC was unable to identify which police force was responsible for the inquiry into the attack for the BBC.
An incident happened within a VR game, as reported by the Daily Mail.
It was asserted that the victim felt the effects of the assault more profoundly due to the immersive qualities of virtual reality.
An unnamed senior officer, who spoke to the paper, reported that the victim, who was under 16 at the time, experienced psychological trauma "similar to that of someone who has been physically raped."
In criminal law, it is necessary that physical contact has taken place in order for a case to be classified as rape or sexual assault.
It has been contended that legal alterations may be required in order to make sure that those who perpetrate attacks with sexual motives on avatars in virtual realms can be convicted and disciplined properly.
Some maintain that, for instance, laws against the production of artificial child exploitation images can be applied as a basis for prosecutions in digital world scenarios.
Ms Jones informed World at One on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday that the police are having to act swiftly and together with the government, especially the Ministry of Justice, to call attention to where laws need to be modified.
Issues concerning sexually motivated attacks in the metaverse have been brought up before.
In 2022, Nina Jane Patel, a researcher, disclosed that she had been subjected to abuse within the virtual world of Horizon Venues (which has since become part of Horizon Worlds) operated by Meta. Patel likened the experience to that of a sexual assault.
Ms Patel remembered that she was encircled by three to four avatars that sounded and seemed to be male, who began verbally harassing her and then sexually assaulting her avatar.
She stated that they had spoken using words which degraded women, and "carried on in a manner which could only be described as an assault of a sexual nature on my avatar".
Ms Patel expressed her concern that, in times to come, technology could potentially enable someone to experience virtual attacks in a tangible way.
The National Crime Agency has cautioned that law enforcement will need to make preparations to respond to digital sexual assaults in coming times.”
The BBC have yet to verify on which platform the attack towards the young girl's avatar happened, however Meta declared in an official statement: "This type of conduct is not tolerated in our platform, hence why we have an AI-enabled safeguard known as 'personal boundary', which holds off strangers a few feet from you."
Even though there were no specifics shared before this story was released, we will investigate further once more information is accessible.
Meta makes use of several technologies created especially for limiting minors' contact with objectionable material and interactions with strangers.
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