eyes, the public services it watching dw news. our technology show shift is coming up next with a look at the perils facing children in virtual reality worlds. you can always find more use on our website. that is g w dot com. i'm monica jones from me and the news team here implants, thanks for watching and will be back with the latest at the top of the hour. if you want to you then think many of the woods, i am sad lana seattle's keania. i am running for president of the republic of bella, rosie leaky. ah,

john dunder, searches for the truth again. this time the exiled turkish journalist meets svetlana itsyana, sky, exiled leader of the opposition in bella rue school. i mean, of course i am tired and tired, physically untied, morally, is too much on my shoulders, but i have to hold this weight because i'm responsible for the future. follow contra for the people far behind the boss. guardians of truth starts february 18th, on dw, today we're talking about cyber grooming a topic which could be traumatizing for some people. it's a growing problem at the moment with teenagers and kids increasingly being sexually harassed on line. and virtual worlds are unfortunately given grim is an ideal hunting ground. so what can be done against cyber grooming?

it's a heavy topic, but an important one today on shift. ah, this is the dock side of the internet. predators mostly men, a jumping online to build trusting relationships with manas, they aim to groom their victims for sexual relations. 84 percent of these victims, a girl's children as young as 10 years old, a being approached and the cyber grimace are 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 groom is to act anonymously or a horrible fond of children in virtual strip clubs, partaking in simulated sexual intercourse with adults. this happened in the popular, apt, v. r, chat, incidents like these are why some have already called the metaphors 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 v. r apps dangerous by design or 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 traumatic for children. when we talk about sexual exploitation in the members that we have to understand is that we are fully immersed. lee has intentionally embodied in a digital and environment. it is no longer a video game that we're observing. miss. i wanna ask you to participate in something sexual, 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 sexual abuse that occurs online could turn into a traumatic memory and reality. it's a parent's worst nightmare, and as via will become even more immersive. the danger for kids only increases as professors stein occur from the university of hamburg explains to fog very eyes when alumnis like 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 sca food we call this sense of presence to the higher the sense of presence of the more i believe that what i see seems real eyes that the places and experiences are actually their home. and 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, but she's not. digital touched her. 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 mass leaves. our children longer able to harms anti creditors and to exploitation. as long as these via platforms fail to find solutions and don't take this problem seriously, children will remain at risk. roblox 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, groomers were able to create virtual sex games on roadblocks and draw in their online victims with the promise of cash. and roblox children were repeatedly lowered into so called condos private areas of the platform developed by

groomers and pedophile, where virtual sex games are also possible. what happens there is described by the u . s. and gio common sense media in a report. miners offer virtual dances and sexual acts, as well as nude photographs off platform to adults and exchange for ro bucks, 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 aged 11 to 13. overall, a global study from 2021 found that 34 percent of children have been asked to do something sexually explicit online. recently, roblox has made efforts to combat cyber grooming in their games. roblox isn't the

only platform struggling to get ahold of the cyber grooming problem. it's clear that they all made up their game. in many v r apps, users can block abusive players. any grooming abuse should be reported to the platforms who in turn can suspend the groomers account. currently, however, offenders can easily return with a new one. is actually looking at what procedures have and protocols and we put into place to ensure that whoever they say they are is actually who they are. so that we can have a 50 year old pretending to be a 15 year old in the members. that's actually quite simple to do and not a huge, technologically technological challenge for us. it just hasn't been done. because if you're in a nation, if you have commercialization, one of the biggest challenges is that many companies at the forefront of met averse development have a track record of facilitating harmful practices online like meta 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 purchases, block apps, view screen time, and see who the child has added as a friend. more and more companies pledge to make child safety a priority epic games publisher of popular online games fortnight. and lego have announced a new cooperation at a cost of $2000000000.00 us dollars. they want to make a commitment to child safety. however, it is still unclear whether this will become a separate metaphors project just for children, of course. so i, the grooming isn't just restricted to the med of us grimace. have even use seemingly harmless playlists on spotify to try and lurid victims. i invite kids to playlists and then using the description field, they ask kids to post nudes in the playlists profile picture. this stuff is happening where you'd least expected. the authorities can't keep up,

but they are trying to fight the issue with the help of artificial intelligence. the language of the perpetrators is an important key here. me, it's once a university and we'll have linguistics. professor noreah, lorenzo duce and her team are developing the dragon sputter a software meant to spot online cyber grooming. ready ready which images videos, so one to try to persuade, manipulate a child to engage in sexual activity, change online, and also offline. and i thought we should going to be able to apply check language and communication that kind of research went to child, identify those strategies with those tactics where to create children. ah, the software consists of a machine learning algorithm and

a large amount of premium chat protocols. the linguists detect communication patterns used by agreement to manipulate their victims. the algorithm is trained to detect patterns like empathetic language, explicitly requesting sex, as well as ambiguous insinuations. precisely depending on how we teach in the context in which it is used and so on. so there has been very much the tire rotation by a few miles off within it seem to age for this project. ah, dragon spotter has already been successfully tested by british in australian police for reasons of confidentiality, discounts, go into more detail, types and technology that we him me if intended use august or inforcement for anybody else. and it's not meant to be

a decision maker. is meant to support an informed decision making by the expert. the project is also trying to help education workers recognize growing patterns early to prevent the abuse happening in the 1st place. it's a mine field for parents, especially if they've never actually been to the met averse themselves. if i had kids, i honestly wouldn't have a clue where to start. so his just a few tips on how to foot cyber grooming from the safety of your own home. tip one, familiarize yourself with the met averse. 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 metaphors works. so do your own research experienced and experiment with the technology yourself. and also have clear communication with your child about what their interest is in the, in the bottom of the matter is if your child downloads

a new app or be our 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. tip to make use of technological tools. increasingly v r headsets and v are apps like roadblocks come with a safe mode. this restricts the possibilities for children and enables parents to monitor chats and contact this way. inappropriate language and chats and interactions with adults can be limited. 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 tip for don't reveal too much information. groomers try to win their victims trust. anything you say online or reveal on your profile or avatar can be used against you by groomers,

personal information like name, age or where you live or especially sensitive and should not be field. many groomers 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 maid along with you for your world's should be a place for everyone to feel safe. but developers need to do a lot more to ensure use 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 will be, will be interacting as human beings in the future. we have an opportunity right now to plant the seeds for positive experiences in the met a verse. have you ever come across cyber grooming in virtual worlds? let us know. that's it from us today. so you next time.

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