Woman claims she was groped in Metas VR world

Claims have come from
a beta tester that she was virtually ‘groped’ in the metaverse universe, which
is the latest offering from Facebook’s parent company Meta. The incident was
reported earlier in December, with the actual event taking place late in
November. The woman in question took to Horizon Worlds, the beta testing group
on Facebook, to speak about her experience.

She said, “Sexual harassment is no joke on the regular internet
but being in VR adds another layer that makes the event more intense. Not
only was I groped last night, but there were other people there who supported
this behaviour, which made me feel isolated in the Plaza.”

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Meta, which presents the image
of the metaverse being a pleasant and productive escape where people can create
experiences that matter in their own extraordinary ways. Currently, the platform supports up to 20 people in a single session. Referring to this incident, Meta stated that it has a ‘Safe Zone’ feature which allows users to block any individual they do not wish to interact with. However, they admitted that further work is required to make this feature easily accessible and discoverable for new joiners. 

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A spokesperson for Meta also highlighted how users are expected to complete training regarding safeguarding tools before they are prepared for their metaverse experience. 

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Notably, incidents of online sexual harassment, including physical threats, have been on the rise. VR, still a nascent portion of the online world, has not been spared either. 

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These virtual reality spaces are designed in a way to trick the user into thinking they are physically inhabiting that space. Hence, emotional reactions tend to be stronger there. Normally, most social media companies give users the tools to handle instances of harassment, sexual or otherwise. Meta, while agreeing to improve user experience on the platform, has maintained a similar stance saying that it is not their fault if users do not resort to the full spectrum of available features.