some people, it's a growing problem at the moment with teenagers and kids increasingly being sexually harassed online and such a wells are unfortunately, given. graham is an odd deal hunting ground. so what can be done again side of grooming? it's a heavy topic, but an important one today on shift the . this is the dock side of the internet. predators, mostly men are jumping online to build trusting relationships with minus the aim to groom the victims for sexual relations. 84 percent of these victims a goals, children as young as 10 years old being approached. and the sort of grim is a well versed in the art of exploitation. it's nothing new, of course, but now they're using virtual worlds, which are extremely popular with kids. it's a perfect place the grim is to ask anonymously. all

a horrible fond children and virtual strict clubs, part taking in simulated sexual intercourse with adults. this happened in the popular app v. r. chat. incidents like these are why some have already called the men of verse a paradise for perverts and a breeding ground for sex offenders. a british child protection charity, the national society for the prevention of cruelty to children, has called some of the are apps dangerous by design. the virtual reality allows us to dive into a make believe digital world. but the same thing that makes it so exciting can also make it dangerous harmful and dramatic for children. when we talk about sexual exploitation in the members, but we have to understand is that we are fully immersed fully present and fully embodied in the digital environment. it is no longer a video game that we're observing when someone asked you to participate in something essentially inappropriate within the members. there are serious

psychological and physiological implications that we cannot underestimate. research has shown that children experience be, are differently from adults as their brain is still developing. they can't always tell the difference between virtual worlds and real life. researchers say that children could even form memories based on virtual experiences. which means that the sexual abuse that occurs online could turn into a traumatic memory. in reality, the, it's a parent's worst nightmare. and as they are, will become even more, most of the dangerous. the kids only increases as professor stein to come from the university of him book explains the photography the i as when i lived in this fine, how real this type of experience can be, depends on the technology being used. and the way things are depicted in the virtual world and we call this sense of presence, you please to the higher the sense of presence of the more i believe that when i

see seems real that the places and experiences are actually there meant this is also true when you experience very beautiful moments, but of course i can also make you very nervous or lead to anxiety or fear that you know, they start ashton and to make matters even worse. most of these via worlds don't even use stringent age checks, which could at least provide an extra layer of protection. what we need to understand is that the current system in which the technology is being developed does not prioritize the needs of the child. and that leaves our children vulnerable to harms and to predators and to exploitation. as long as these vi platforms fail to find solutions and don't take these problems seriously, children will remain at risk. roadblocks has made headlines in the past. it bows $58000000.00 uses per day, and around a quarter of those a younger than 13 years old. until recently, grooms were able to

a virtual 6 games on roadblocks and draw in the online victims with the promise of cash. and roadblocks, children were repeatedly lowered into so called condos private areas of the platform developed by groomers instead of files where virtual 6 games are also possible. what happens there is described by the us and g o common sense media in a report. minor as offer virtual dances and sexual acts, as well as nude photographs off platform to adults and exchange for robots which can be converted into real money. so called self generated sexual content by children has skyrocketed in recent years. it now accounts for almost 72 percent of all sexual abuse content online. that's a 28 percent increase in 2021. the images and videos mainly involve girls age to 11 to 13. overall, a global study from 2021. so net 34 percent of children has been asked to do

something sexually explicit online. the recently roadblocks has made efforts to combat cyber crewmen in their games. roadblocks isn't the only platform struggling to get ahold of the side of grooming problem. it's clear that they all need to up their game. as in many v r apps, users can block abusive players. any grooming abuse should be reported to the platforms who in turn can suspend to the groomers account. currently, however, offenders can easily return with a new one is actually looking at what procedures have and protocols that we put into place to ensure that whoever they say they are is actually who they are. so that we can have the 50 year old pretending to be a 15 year old in the matter of hers. that's actually quite simple to do and not a huge, technologically technological challenge for us. it just hasn't been done because of

fear of innovation, of care of commercialization. one of the biggest challenges is that many companies at the forefront of many adverse developments have a track record of facilitating harmful practices online like mehta, formerly known as facebook and instagram. having said that matter has just announced to offer new protective measures for their quest to be our headset. parents will now be able to deny purchase is block aps view screen time and see who the child is added as a friend. more and more companies pledge to make child safety a priority. epic games publisher of popular online games for tonight. and lego have announced a new cooperation at a cost of $2000000000.00 us dollars. they want to make a commitment to the child safety. however, it is still unclear whether this will become a separate matter of hers project just for children, of course. so i, the grooming isn't just restricted to the men of us. grooms have even use seemingly harmless play lists on spot a fly to try and during the victim's name,

bought kids to playlists and then using the description field, they ask kids to post nudes in the playlists profile picture. this stuff is happening way, you least expect that. the authorities concave pop, but they are trying to fight the issue with the help of artificial intelligence. the language of the perpetrators is an important key here. it's once the university in wales linguistics, professor norion lorenzo, do send her team are developing the dragon sputter software meant to spot online cyber grooming. ready so let me use which i understand, you know, take most images, videos on so you know, so, oh jesus, i want to try and persuade my name tonight, a child to gauge well so much to do such an activity on line. i also offline and i thought we should really be able to apply techniques from language and

communication that kind of research with a child, identify what those strategies with those types of things where to be extra like the software consists of a machine learning algorithm and a large amount of premium chat protocols, the linguists detect communication patterns used by groomers to manipulate their victims. the algorithm is trained to detect patterns like empathetic language, explicitly requesting sex, as well as m. thank you as insinuations precise names saying we're coming or how which is used in the context in which it is used and so on. so that has been very much detail taishan by a few miles off within that same day age based project tracking spotter has already been successfully tested by british and australian

police for reasons of confidentiality, discounts, go into more detail, types of technology that we are kind of him, he's only are these intended users to investment funding, anybody else? and it's not meant to be a decision maker is known to support inform. that's a decision making by the experts of the project is also trying to help education workers recognize green passions early to prevent the abuse happening in the 1st place. it's a mon field for parents, especially if they've never actually been to the men of us themselves. if i had kids, i honestly wouldn't have a clue where to start. so here's just a few tips on how to flip side, the building from the safety of your own home. tape one. familiarize yourself with the mental verse. discovering virtual worlds can help parents understand what their children experience online. currently 2 thirds of parents with children between 5 and 10, don't know how the meta verse works. so do your own research experience and experiment

with the technology yourself. and also have clear communication with your child about what their interest is in the, in the realm of them. that overs in your child download a new app or v r application within the headset. and you again have to do that research and understand exactly who your child will have the opportunity to interact with step to make use of technological tools. increasingly, b, r headsets and b are apps like roadblocks come with a safe mode. this restricts the possibilities for children and enables parents to monitor chests and contacts this way in appropriate language and chats and interactions with adults can be limited. the tip 3, be suspicious. you never know if the person behind an avatar or chat partner is really who they say they are. therefore, you should always be suspicious online,

especially when you're using a new platform for the 1st time. tit for don't reveal too much information. groomers trying to win their victims trust. anything you say online or reveal on your profile or avatar can be used against you bike rumors, personal information like name, age, or where you live or a specially sensitive and should not be beyond. many grim is will also eventually want to meet face to face. it's obviously best to avoid this, but if you do end up meeting someone in person, choose a public setting and bring a night along with you. they are worlds should be a place for everyone to feel safe. but developers need to do a lot more to insure use of safety on top of that. authorities also need to move with the times and find a way to enforce existing laws against child abuse online. this is not a novelty technology. this is not another game. this is a, the next evolution of how you will be interacting as human beings in the future.

and we have an opportunity right now to plan this deeds for positive experiences and the movers have you ever come across sort of gaming and virtual worlds? let us know that's it from us today. so you next on the listening place of the mediterranean sea, unless we are up to coming to us next during martin lodge style, i'm submitted to a meeting. people queuing bedroom, the mediterranean shanty, the sweet dw,

so either insane, and feel the same way you expect and more different things from life than your parents. i just want to pursue was, that's my thought. or you think your kid is 2 different, risky, irresponsible, reasonable stop in port is this nonsense? i wonder if my son to the doctor still in the clubs it's time to to get your generation with a sleep us and then when generations flash starts, january 14th on dw is kind of fun. it feels like therapy the .