By TCR Staff
A researcher who entered the metaverse wanting to study users’ behavior on Meta’s social-networking platform Horizon World says her avatar was raped in the virtual space within an hour, reports Insider. Even though it happened in virtual reality, the incident left the researcher “disoriented,” according to a report from the nonprofit advocacy group SumOfUs, and her controller vibrated when the male avatars touched her, resulting in a physical sensation that was a result of what she was experiencing online.
SumOfUs researchers also reported experiencing homophobic and racial slurs in Horizon World and said they witnessed gun violence on the platform. Four other users also recently said their avatars were sexually assaulted or harassed in Horizon World and other Meta VR platforms. A proposal introduced to complete a third-party assessment of “potential psychological and civil and human rights harms to users that may be caused by the use and abuse of the platform” and “whether harms can be mitigated or avoided, or are unavoidable risks inherent in the technology” was voted down by Meta shareholders.https://thecrimereport.org
