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- A nonprofit advocacy group says the researcher’s avatar was raped in metaverse.
- Other Meta users also said they had been sexually harassed or abused in the meta.
- Meta investors wanted a report on the harms to meta users, but the idea was rejected by contributors.
The researcher entered the metaverse wanting to study user behavior on the Horizon World social networking platform Meta. But an hour after she wore an Oculus VR headset, her avatar was raped in virtual space.
“Metaverse: Another sink for toxic contenta new report published by nonprofit advocacy group SumOfUs on Tuesday, details the researcher’s violent confrontation at Meta’s Horizon World.
According to a SumOfUs account, users invited the researcher to a private party on Horizon World earlier this month. Then users in the same room asked her to disable a file Adjust Which prevented others from getting close to her 4 feet away.
Report related to video What the group says shows what happened to the researcher’s image from her point of view. In the video, an avatar male is seen getting very close to her, while another male is standing nearby watching her. A bottle of what appears to be alcohol is then passed between the two images, in a 28-second video clip. Two male voices are heard making obscene comments in the video.
In part of the video, SumOfUs opted not to participate but describe, “The researcher was taken to a private room at a party where she was raped by a user who kept asking her to turn around so he could do it from behind while users outside could see the window — all while Another user in the room was watching and swiping a bottle of vodka,” according to the report.
Although it took place in virtual reality, the incident left the researcher “confused,” she said in the report. The researcher noticed that her console vibrated when the male avatars touched it, resulting in a physical sensation that was the result of what she was experiencing online.
“One part of my brain was like WTF was happening, the other part was like this isn’t a real body, and the other part was like, this is important research,” she said in the report.
SumOfUs researchers also reported experiencing racist and homophobic insults at Horizon World and said they witnessed gun violence on the platform.
dead Launched Horizon Worlds in December for users 18 and older in the US and Canada. By February, there were at least 300,000 users on the platform, according to to the edge.
Four other users recently said their avatars were sexually assaulted or harassed on Horizon World and other Meta VR platforms, SumOfUs reports.
In November, a beta tester reported that it ‘s avatar has been sensed In Horizon Worlds.
At that time, a dead actress, Christina Milian, said MIT Technology Review that users should have “a positive experience with security tools that are easy to find – and a user never goes wrong if they don’t use all the features we offer.” She continued, “We will continue to improve our user interface and to better understand how people use our tools so that users can report things easily and reliably. Our goal is to make Horizon Worlds safe, and we are committed to doing this work.”
But the next month, a Metaverse researcher named Nina Jane Patel He said In a post on Medium, within 60 seconds after she joined Horizon Worlds, her avatar was gang raped by three to four male-looking characters.
In the same month, The New York Times mentioned The player avatar has been sensed in a shooting game owned by Meta Corporation. Separately, a player in the sports game Echo VR He said A player told her he recorded her voice so he could “flick” to curse her.
SumOfUs and Meta did not immediately respond to Insider requests for comment. In response to a report by SumOfUs, a representative of Meta He told the Daily Mail It is not recommended to “turn off the security feature with people you don’t know.”
At least two large investors have expressed concern about details arising from harassment and abuse on its metaverse platforms
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Meta has staked its future on building its own immersive metaverse. I invested $10 billion in designing the metaverse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is playing the long game with his investments, as he recently said the project could continue to lose money for three to five years, from the inside. mentioned.
However, at least two major investors in Meta have been disturbed by details arising from harassment and abuse on its metaverse platforms.
In December, investors Arjuna Capital and Storebrand Asset Management, along with SumOfUs and several other advocacy organizations, submitted an application for a movement They demand Meta publish a report examining any damages users may face on its metaverse platforms, they He said In a press release.
“Investors need to understand the scope of this potential damage, and reflect on whether or not this is a good idea before we throw in good money after bad,” Natasha Lamb, managing partner at Arjuna Capital, said in the statement.
on wednesday dead partner At the meeting, a proposal was made to complete a third-party assessment of “the potential psychological, civil and human rights harms to users that may result from the use and abuse of the platform” and “whether the harms can be mitigated or avoided, or the risks inherent in the technology cannot be avoided.” “.
However, the proposal upvoted.
Earlier this month, Nick Clegg, Head of Global Affairs at Meta Platforms, said in a Blog post That “the security rules and features of the metaverse – regardless of floor – will not be identical to those currently in place for social media” and “should not be”.
But he continued: “In the physical world, as well as the Internet, people shout and swear and do all kinds of unpleasant things that aren’t prohibited by law, and they harass and attack people in ways that are no different. People who want to abuse technologies will always find ways to do it.”
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