An UK teenage girl was ‘sexually attacked’ in the online ‘metaverse’.
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British police are investigating the alleged gang rape of a 16-yr-old girl’s digital avatar in a virtual reality game
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The teen was wearing a virtual reality headset in an immersive game when her avatar was raped by a group of men
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Although she did not sustain any physical injuries, investigating officers said she may have suffered trauma similar to someone who’d been raped in real life
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The case is believed to be the first virtual sexual offence investigated by the UK police
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UK authorities fear it might be impossible to prosecute under current laws, which define sexual assault as physical touching in a sexual manner without consent
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There have been several reports of virtual sex crimes in Horizon Worlds - a free VR game operated by Facebook’s parent company, Meta
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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, a Meta spokesperson said