The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) of the United Kingdom revealed in a damning report released on Wednesday that perverts are using the metaverse to sexually exploit children.
The NSPCC discovered eight instances of child exploitation involving virtual reality headsets in the United Kingdom using data obtained from UK police and issued a warning that this new technology exposes kids to new dangers.
Snapchat Spreads Child Abuse The Most
Over the past five years, police reports of child abuse image offenses have increased by 66 percent, according to the NSPCC. While Snapchat was the most frequently used platform to share images of child abuse, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp were each used 33% of the time.
Social media has harmed children in other ways in addition to making it simpler for criminals to distribute illegal content. Teen girls who are seriously considering suicide have increased by 60%, according to a recent CDC report. Numerous studies have also linked adolescent social media use to elevated levels of social isolation and loneliness. Concerns about foreign influence campaigns, online harassment, sharing of illegal materials, and free speech have led to increased public and regulatory scrutiny of Meta and other major tech companies both in the US and abroad.
NSPCC Chief Executive Sir Peter Wanless said in a statement regarding the new report that the rise in child abuse incidents is extremely alarming but only represents the very beginning of what kids are facing online.
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What Is Metaverse?
A unified virtual space resembling a digital metropolis or opulent lobby is what the Metaverse aims to create by connecting all of the entertainment, social, and commercial activities currently found in various games, applications, websites, and physical locations.
It depicts a collision of environments, companies, and brands in a single, easily explorable location, all of which can be seen in 3D with the help of VR or AR technology. In other words, the Metaverse will be a more complex, three-dimensional version of the internet.
There are numerous aspects of the Metaverse that are or will be in the future, crucial to comprehend. However, there are a few fundamental ideas about the Metaverse that would be wise to grasp right away. To name a few, there are questions about how to enter the Metaverse, Metaverse spaces, and commerce.
