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Nonprofits say the researcher’s avatar was raped in the Metaverse.
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Other meta-users have also stated that they have been sexually harassed and abused in the Metaverse.
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Meta-investors wanted to report on the harm faced by Metaverse users, but shareholders rejected the idea.
A researcher wanted to enter the Metaverse and investigate user behavior on Meta’s social networking platform, Horizon World. But within an hour of she wearing an Oculus virtual reality (VR) headset, she says she was raped in virtual space.
“”Metaverse: Another cesspool of toxic contentA new report, published May 24 by the nonprofit SumOfUs, details the violent encounters of researchers at Meta’s Horizon World.
According to the SumOfUs account, users invited researchers to a private party at Horizon World earlier this month.Then a user in the same room asked her to disable it setting It prevented others from getting within her 4 feet,
Linked report video What the group said shows what happened to the researcher’s avatar from her point of view. In the video, a male avatar is seen very close to her, and another male avatar is standing near her. Then, following the 28-second video, a bottle that looks like alcohol passes between the two avatars. You can hear the voices of two men making lascivious comments in the video.
In part of a video that SumOfUs chose to explain without sharing, researchers raped users who were taken to a party’s private room, where they kept telling them to look back while they were outside. According to the report, it was visible through the window while another user in the room was looking around the bottle of vodka. “
The incident left the researchers “confused”, even if it happened in virtual reality, she said in a report. Researchers have noticed that when a male avatar touches her, her controller vibrates, resulting in her physical sensations as a result of what she has experienced online.
“One part of my brain seems to have wtf, the other part doesn’t seem to be real, and the other part seems to be an important study,” she said in a report. I did.
Researchers at SumOfUs also reported experiencing homosexual aversion and racial slurs at Horizon World and said they witnessed gun violence on the platform.
Meta Release Last December, Horizontal Worlds was aimed at users over the age of 18 in the United States and Canada. By February, the platform had at least 300,000 users. according to To The Verge.
According to a SumOfUs report, four other users also recently claimed that their avatars were sexually assaulted or harassed on HumanWorld and other Meta VR platforms.
In November, the beta tester she Avatar was groping At Horizon World.
At that time, Meta spokesman Christina Milian MIT Technology Review Users “need to have a positive experience with easy-to-find safety tools. They are not responsible for not using all the features they provide. We will continue to improve the UI and users. We will understand how to use it. A tool to make it easy and reliable for users to report. Our goal is to make Horizontal Worlds safe and its work. I promise to do. “
But the following month, Metaverse researcher Nina Jane Patem Disclosure In a medium post, within 60 seconds of her joining Horizon World, her avatar was gangbanged by an avatar that looked like three or four men.
That same month, the New York Times report A female player’s avatar was groped in a meta-owned shooter.Apart from this, the player of the sports game Echo VR Said The male player told her that she had recorded her voice so that she could “hurry” to her curse.
SumOfUs and Meta did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Meta-spokesperson in response to SumOfUs report Told the Daily Mail We do not recommend “turning off the safety features of strangers”.
At least two major Metaverse investors have expressed concern about new details of harassment and abuse on the Metaverse platform.
Meta is betting the future on building immersive Metaverse virtual reality. Invested $ 10 billion in the design of the Metaverse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been playing a long game on his investment and recently said the project could continue to lose money for the next three to five years, insider report..
However, at least two major meta-investors have warned that details of harassment and abuse on the Metaverse platform have been revealed.
In December, investors Arjuna Capital and Storebrand Asset Management, along with SumOfUs and several other advocates, joined forces. motion Meta demanded that they publish a report investigating the potential harm that users may face on the Metaverse platform, and they Said In a press release.
“Investors need to understand the extent of these potential harms, consider whether this is a good idea, and then invest good money after bad,” said Natasharam, managing partner of Arjuna Capital. There is. “
May 25th of Meta Shareholders At the conference, “Potential psychological and civil and human rights harm to users that may be caused by the use and abuse of the platform” and “Whether harm can be mitigated or avoided, or avoided inherent in the technology. No risk. “
But the suggestion Was voted..
Earlier this month, MetaPlatforms President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said: Blog post “The rules and safety features of the Metaverse are not and should not be the same as they are currently implemented on social media, regardless of floor.”
But he continued. “People scream, swear, and do all sorts of offensive things that aren’t prohibited by law, not just on the Internet, but in the real world, and they harass and attack people. The Metaverse It makes no difference. Anyone who wants to abuse technology will always find a way to do it. “
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