UK Teen Alleges Gang Rape In Metaverse; Home Secretary Backs The Investigation (image: unsplash/Remy Gieling)

The UK Police are investigating the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl”s online avatar in a virtual reality (VR) video game. Reportedly, the probe marked the first of its kind in metaverse.

As per the report, girl was wearing a virtual reality headset in an immersive game when her digital character was sexually attacked by avatars of several strangers. It said that she did not undergone any physical injury, but the emotional trauma may similar of someone who has been raped in real life. “There is an emotional and psychological impact on the victim that is longer-term than any physical injuries,” Daily Mail quotes as the officer is saying. It has not yet known what game the teenage girl was playing at the time of the alleged attack.

Meanwhile, UK Home Secretary James Cleverly has backed the virtual reality rape probe by stating that the child has experienced “sexual trauma”. “I know it is easy to dismiss this as being not real, but the whole point of these virtual environments is they are incredibly immersive,” LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast quoted as James Cleverly is saying.

“And we’re talking about a child here, and a child has gone through sexual trauma. It will have had a very significant psychological effect and we should be very, very careful about being dismissive of this,” Home Secretary added. He also further said that someone who is committing such transgression in the digital world may commit similar in the real world.

However, police stated that the current UK legislation face challenges in handling sexual assault in a virtual space.

Virtual sex crimes have been reported on various occasions, Horizon Worlds, a free VR game operated by Facebook”s parent company, Meta said.