Women’s internet safety is an issue that needs to be addressed (credit: Unsplash)

Defining and protecting boundaries and protocols throughout the virtual world is something that people are not yet aware of.

Troll farms and anonymous reports spread misinformation and hate on social media. Online video games are used to exploit the poor for a living. Financial fraud is common when it comes to cryptocurrencies.

Then there is the meta version.

Of course, a complete virtual world offers countless benefits in terms of work and socializing.

But when a 21-year-old Metaverse user said her avatar was raped when we joined, the response was divisive.

Last week, SumOfUs published a report titled “Metaverse: Another Flood of Toxic Content.” Details the fierce clash of investigators in the Horizontal World of Meta.

Some were surprised by this experience, while others simply felt that the system should be turned off.

“Virtual reality is not a reality, and people use it for its sickness and distorted benefits, but it’s also important to remember that this is not a reality. Something you don’t like online is going on. If you take off your headset and don’t do it Join a game that provides a platform for the sick One of the readers of the Facebook page commented on this story.

This is just a computer game. Take off your glasses, -another writing.

However, other readers were quick to point out the insidious nature of committing sexual violence in the virtual world. I also sympathize with the experience of anonymous researchers.

“Stop telling the victim to turn off the computer and start telling the perpetrator to turn off the computer. This is another way of blaming the victim,” Lis Opon said on Facebook. “If her daughter was sexually abused in a virtual world, she wanted to stop it and do something to punish the crime.”

Reader Tamara Tanner said:

Attacks aren’t “real” in the Metaverse, but the risk of translating these behaviors into real life is serious indeed.

There are always snipers, but women’s Internet safety issues need to be addressed, whether they’re metaversions or popular social networks.

Metaverse.

If something happens in the meta version, is it really true? (Credit: Getty)

“The message from women going online is big and clear,” said Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom.

We’re calling on tech companies to take women’s online safety issues seriously and put people’s safety at the heart of their services.

“It involves listening to customer feedback when creating services and algorithms that deliver content.”

“This is an unregulated industry. It has a lot to do to grow and change tremendously, and we hold companies accountable on behalf of the community.”

Dawes believes future online security bills will help mitigate the damage.

“This is what this regulation really does to change everything,” he said.

This is not the first time that a woman has reported sexual harassment on the platform. In 2021, psychotherapist and researcher Nina Jane Patel announced that sexual violence had occurred in Horizon World.

“When you put on a headset, the real world is blocked out and everything you see or hear becomes a virtual world,” says Patel, a meta-translation practitioner who studies the psychological and physiological effects of immersing yourself in a virtual environment. .

“In a sense, my physiological and psychological reactions were like it was actually happening,” Patel said of his experience with the virtual attacks.

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SumOfUs also says that Meta needs better plans to reduce metaversion damage.

In February, Meta introduced the “Personal Borders” feature. This is a feature that prevents others from getting too close when using horizontal worlds.

The new measures were expected to help reduce bullying in the digital space.

“Personal boundaries prevent avatars from invading your privacy,” Horizon VP Vivek Sharma wrote in a blog post introducing new features on Friday.

“When someone tries to enter their personal limits, the system stops them from moving forward when they reach the limits,” Sharma added.

The company also restricts access to users over the age of 18, but like any other online platform, it’s easy for young people to lie about their age to gain access.

Horizontal Worlds is currently only available in the US and Canada, but is expected to be available in the UK for a long time.