Everyone is aware of the troubling reality young women face today. In public spaces, 86% of women aged 18 to 24 report having experienced sexual harassment. This disconcerting trend continues in educational environments, where 79% of students acknowledge that sexual assault is commonplace among their peers, and nearly one-third of teenage girls report unwanted sexual touching. Public facilities, from swimming pools to parks and beaches, have become arenas of vulnerability. The online realm is no sanctuary either, with the children’s safety charity NSPCC revealing that social media platforms fail to protect girls from harm at any stage.
This revelation holds no surprise for any woman navigating social media. It becomes even more crucial as Meta, which operates some of the largest online platforms, is pouring billions into creating a virtual world. This so-called metaverse is intended to transform socializing, education, business, shopping, and live events. If Meta has blatantly failed to ensure the safety of women and girls on its existing platforms, why should we accept its vision for the future?
Mark Zuckerberg’s proclamations about the metaverse promise a limitless realm for imagination. However, such promises sound alluring to some men, while they evoke trepidation among women. The immersive nature of this new digital landscape risks amplifying the harassment we endure in current social media environments, making it both more vivid and, crucially, more challenging to moderate. This is not a speculative concern; it is a reality that many will experience. My own exploration of the metaverse for my book, The New Age of Sexism, has shown that the issues are more than theoretical.
A standard definition of the metaverse may be elusive, yet it generally refers to a shared environment where virtual and augmented technologies allow users, depicted by avatars, to engage. Currently, access to much of Meta’s virtual space is limited to those who invest in Quest headsets. Still, some areas are open to any internet-enabled device, with advanced tools like 3D audio and haptic feedback rendering virtual interactions astonishingly lifelike. Yet these innovations raise pivotal questions about safety.
In my explorations, I encountered a woman’s avatar under assault within hours. When I approached her, she confirmed, “He came up to me and grabbed my ass.” When asked if this occurrence was frequent, the answer was grim: “All the time.”
During my time in this so-called metaverse, harassment was a constant presence. I overheard vile statements, including one player remarking, “I’m dragging my balls all over your mother’s face.” Male players incessantly made crude comments while I received unsolicited attention to my virtual appearance. I witnessed no moderation or intervention from either players or moderators.
A 2022 report revealed that human moderators were only present in the main plaza of Meta’s Horizon Worlds, primarily assisting with trivial matters rather than enforcing any meaningful behavioral standards.
Disturbingly, I also observed what seemed to be young children drawing the attention of adult men in virtual spaces. One karaoke-themed area featured avatars of young women, while the voices of those performing suggested that many were actually minors. Meanwhile, men in the audience directed attention toward them, illustrating a stark and troubling imbalance.
The responsibility to rectify these egregious safety issues lies heavily on Meta. While other companies, like Roblox and Microsoft, explore user-generated virtual spaces, NSPCC research highlights that 150 apps, games, and websites were used for grooming between 2017 and 2023, with nearly half of these offenses occurring on Meta’s platforms.
The alarming incidents are not mere isolated cases. Research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that users faced abusive behavior every seven minutes in the metaverse. Over 11 hours of observation identified 100 potential violations of Meta’s own policies, which included graphic content and threats.
In a CCDH report, numerous instances of children undergoing sexual harassment were documented, including adults making vile comments with full knowledge of the age of their targets.
Since inception, Meta’s metaverse has faced a slew of harassment and assault reports. Users recount experiences of virtual groping and stalking, demonstrating the profound inadequacy of oversight mechanisms. In December 2021, a user detailed an abuse incident, receiving little more than an acknowledgment of its unfortunate nature from Meta executives.
Meta’s response to such incidents reveals a troubling trend of shifting blame to victims rather than addressing the systemic issues at hand. It’s appalling that a woman’s distressing experience could be framed as a mere feedback opportunity, highlighting a chilling indifference to their suffering.
Discussions surrounding whether virtual assaults equate in severity to real-life offenses detract from a more pressing point: the psychological trauma inflicted on victims is undeniable. Indeed, the implications of such abuse manifest deeply, causing distress akin to that of physical violations.
Moreover, emerging technologies that enhance virtual experiences are racing ahead. Full-body suits that heighten haptic sensations are already available, making incidents of virtual assault feel alarmingly real. This urgency calls for proactive measures to prevent such horrors before they escalate.
The crux of the issue is that all forms of abuse, regardless of their format, are indefensible. They degrade, intimidate, and psychologically harm victims. Just as social media has restricted women’s engagement, this new frontier threatens to perpetuate further harm.
Envision a future where the metaverse replicates real-world structures—educational institutions, workplaces, and meeting spaces—yet excludes women, girls, and other marginalized groups due to a tolerance of abuse. If this reality is tolerated now, it solidifies inequality in the foundational aspects of our digital landscape.
In the context of the aforementioned virtual assault on a minor, Meta proclaimed that such behavior is unacceptable, commending the existence of a personal safety feature. However, it’s evident these measures fall short. The verbiage used downplays serious infractions to mere inconveniences.
After a researcher faced virtual assault, Meta responded with assurances about its desire for user satisfaction, redirecting focus toward the necessity of finding and employing preventive tools rather than addressing the failures of moderation that allowed such abuses to occur.
A recent CCDH investigation identified 51 reportable policy violations within a multitude of abusive incidents, yet Meta failed to acknowledge a single one or take corrective actions. A complaints system that ignores serious allegations is as effective as no system at all.
The evolution of Meta’s safety protocols should not come at the cost of female safety. Historically, women’s experiences of abuse have often been seen as mere data points for companies. The ongoing trauma faced by young women is a grim commodity in a system that prioritizes profits over protection.
It is disheartening that as we venture into this brave new virtual world, we do not strive for a society where protection and safety are built into the very fabric of these technologies. Why not envision a metaverse where abuse is systematically eliminated, rather than one where women bear the burden of self-defense?
This is neither trivial nor unreasonable. Using Meta’s platforms comes at a high price; our data, experiences, and movements are harvested and commodified for profit. The implications of universal adoption of the metaverse warrant a critical examination of its societal impact.
We must not permit tech giants to evade accountability by citing the complexity of these issues. Just as we reject feeble excuses from food corporations or physical venues, government must step up to impose regulations to ensure safety standards from the outset.
Amid escalating harassment and abuse, we risk regressing into virtual arenas where male entitlement is reinstated. It is not enough to idly watch as we slip toward a culture of normalized abuse.
The Guardian reached out to Meta for comment, but the company did not respond.
