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Virtual gang rape Case: A 21-year-old woman has claimed she was "virtually raped" by a stranger in the Horizon Worlds metaverse, created by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta company.
SumOfUs, a nonprofit organization that campaigns to curb the growing power of corporations, sent the young woman into the virtual world, and about an hour after using the platform, her avatar was sexually assaulted during a "disorienting and confusing experience."
"It happened so fast that I disassociated myself," she recounted. "Part of my brain was like it was happening, part of my brain was like this isn't a real body, and part of my brain was like, this is important research."
The metaverse is a set of virtual spaces where you can play, work and communicate with other people who are not in the same physical space as you. Meta launched Horizon Worlds in December and allows users to meet up with others, play games and build their own virtual worlds.
There "you can hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create and more," Meta explained. "It's not necessarily about spending more time online, it's about making the time you spend online more meaningful."
In a new report titled 'Metaverse: Another cesspool of toxic content', the organization SumOfUs details what happened when the young woman tried the app with an "Oculus" headset.
Not the first case
Facebook's metaverse is once again in controversy. This time, a 43-year-old British woman alleged that her avatar was virtually gang-raped on Facebook's metavenue. In her blog post, Nina Jane Patel, shocked by this incident, explained in detail how 3-to 4 male avatars molested her and took photos.
Let us tell you that in the metaverse, people interact with each other in the form of digital avatars. This incident highlights the risks of the virtual world.
Neena Patel tells in her blog that within 60 seconds of joining the virtual space, 3-4 male avatars started harassing her. Her avatar was sexually assaulted, virtually gang-raped and photographs were taken. As soon as she started running from there, a voice came that 'don't pretend that you have not enjoyed it'. The incident seemed so real that Jane was terrified. It was nothing less than a nightmare for her. After the incident, she immediately took off her headset and signed out of the virtual world.
Jane writes in her blog that this virtual world has been made in such a way that you cannot differentiate that you are not in the real world. Every event that happens here has the same effect on your mind as the real world.
What Facebook said?
A Facebook spokesperson expressed grief over the incident, saying they were sorry it happened. Our aim is to give a positive atmosphere to everyone at Horizon Venue. We are probing the matter.
What is Metavenue?
The Metaverse is an online world where people walk around in their avatars, where you'll find many more people you can talk to as your avatar. It's a 3D space where the Metaverse gives you a chance to socialize, learn and do great things together. But this incident has shaken everyone.
How to be safe in virtual world?
We all have seen the misuse of social media. Social media has given us the opportunity to talk to people sitting anywhere in the world. People not only used it to reduce the distance but also misused it. Every day many people are abused, trolled, hate is spread on Twitter. Metaverse is the 3D version of this. A person goes beyond text and video and meets unknown people by creating an avatar of himself. The way someone's lewd comment shakes your mind. The virtual space or metaverse gives 3 dimensions to that bad experience. That is why before stepping into this new world, also know its side effects. (Virtual gang rape)
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