Police Investigation Into Sexual Assault In The Metaverse - The Real Risks Of Virtual Reality And How They Can Be Countered

• Published date: 12 January 2024
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law, Crime
• Law Firm: Giambrone & Partners
• Author: Mr Vincenzo Senatore

The metaverse arose through various incarnations since is first was mentioned in a work of fiction in 1992, moving through various immersive virtual platforms. It is now firmly embedded in a multitude of virtual reality platforms accessed through an avatar to experience augmented reality where individuals can act out a wide range of experiences.

Almost inevitably the metaverse has been used by criminals to perpetrate, amongst other crimes, identity fraud, financial crime and mis-information. Europol has recently updated their report "Policing in the Metaverse: what law enforcement needs to know".

It has been reported that, possibly for the first time, the police are investigating a serious sexual assault in the metaverse changing the impunity that perpetrators of cyber sexual assault currently enjoy. An under-age girl's avatar was gang-raped by strangers on-line, clearly she did not suffer physical injuries but she has experienced severe emotional trauma and psychological damage equal to that experienced by a victim attacked in the real world.

Vincenzo Senatore, senior partner, commented "new technology is providing new opportunities for criminals to perpetrate criminal behaviour and the cyber world has been very slow to introduce protections for individuals when interacting in virtual reality. The recently enacted Online Safety Act 2023 introduces new cyber offences addressing illegal and harmful content online." Vincenzo further pointed out "the new criminal offences include - "The threatening communications offence, to capture communications which convey a threat of serious harm, such as grievous bodily harm or rape" - however these threats are intended to relate to actions proposed to take place in the real world. It will be a new challenge to the courts to consider how the adverse effects of actions in the cyber world should be policed and punished."

This is not the first time that female avatars have been subjected to gang rape and sexual attack. Meta's Horizon Worlds has a personal boundary setting that distances any interaction preventing avatars from getting closer than four feet of each other, however it can be disabled. This was introduced as a result of accounts of rape on the platform. Previously, a woman researcher was similarly attacked by strangers as well as a psychotherapist who conducts research on the metaverse.

Both regulators and the law have been slow to react to anti-social and criminal behaviour committed despite the evidence that...