Metalaw: Navigating Sexual Assault and Harassment in the Metaverse

Since the popularization of the metaverse over the past year, numerous instances of sexual assault and sexual harassment between users and their respective avatars have been reported. For example, in December 2021, the New York Times reported the case of Chanelle Siggens. While playing Population One on her Oculus Quest virtual reality headset, another player simulated ejaculating on and groping Siggen’s avatar. Chanelle was stunned but distanced her avatar only to be groped by a different user one hour later. Although Chanelle reported the issue, previous struggles of content and user regulation on Facebook and other social media platforms beg the question: are companies such as Google, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft ill-equipped to deal with sexual assault and harassment allegations and reporting?  Will these companies prioritize the protection of their users when they have failed to do so in the past?

After several allegations from users and reporting and attention from the media, Meta announced that it would add a new feature, called a “Safe Zone,” to prevent further instances of sexual harassment in the metaverse. The “safe zone” will be a 1.2-meter barrier around a user’s avatar. Another avatar can only enter this “safe zone,” once the user has chosen to remove their barrier. While this keeps users safe temporarily, is it a permanent solution? With Meta’s solution the responsibility falls on the user to assess the intentions of another user, similar to that of the real world. However, consider the situation in which an anonymous avatar convinces another user to lower their safe zone. If a sexual assault occurs, the victim is left with no path to justice and the attacker is left with no consequences. Contrastingly, in the real world, legal ramifications not only criminalize sexual assault, but also act as a means to deter potential culprits. 

Some might argue that legal ramifications to meta-sexual assault are an overreaction. After all, online sexual harassment, in actuality, is rarely punished through legal means.   However, various new technologies, from headsets to stimulatory vests, make touch in the virtual reality world closely mimics real person-to-person contact – a fact that is confirmed by the numerous victims of meta-sexual assault. Yet, can groping in the metaverse be legally considered “touching” when no physical contact happens? President of Bosco Legal Services, an investigation agency specializing in cyber and social media, says that it is unlikely. He explains that cases like Siggens’ would most likely not be legally considered sexual harassment.  The legal classification of a case like Siggens is dependent on a number of factors including, but not limited to: the specific comments or actions an avatar made or took, whether the victim’s avatar revealed identifiable information to prove herself as the victim, and whether the offender’s avatar was anonymous. Beyond this, the case would be difficult to prosecute, even classified as defamation or the pursuit of a restraining order, because an offender with an anonymous avatar would be nearly impossible to track down without forcing Meta to reveal their identity.  

With these facts in mind, yet another question arises: is there a way to get justice for victims of meta-sexual assault? One potential path is through self-regulatory strategies from virtual reality companies. Because of the inadequacy of response (as previously explained above), this seems more like a secondary or supplemental option. Another path is through a demand for a new legal field: “metalaw.” The proposed field would criminalize and lay out legal ramification for “real world crimes” that take place in the metaverse. While the development of this field may be slow-moving, it offers potential to navigate crime and law in the rapidly growing metaverse.  

Margaret Nesi is a sophomore at Brown University, concentrating in International and Public Affairs and Computer Science. She is a staff writer for the Brown University Undergraduate Law Review and can be contacted at margaret_nesi@brown.edu