SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT IN THE METAVERSE
The metaverse is a site of new forms of sexual violence, with female-presenting avatars far more likely to experience multiple forms of abuse, from simulated groping and harassment to rape. This report, co-produced by the Alliance for Universal Digital Rights, Equality Now, and Vulnera, explores the effects of this new form of technology-facilitated abuse in the metaverse, and the potential for applying and adapting existing criminal laws to metaverse scenarios.
DOXING, DIGITAL ABUSE AND THE LAW
This brief provides preliminary research findings on the legal frameworks in nine focus jurisdictions designed to protect people from doxing, a form of online harassment. To understand what legal protections exist, with pro-bono support from law firm Hogan Lovells LP, we researched laws in England and Wales, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, the US (Virginia, Texas, California), the European Union, and international human rights law. The research considered what laws are currently regulating doxing. It also looked at prospective laws, soft laws, and other areas of law, such as copyright, defamation, and consumer law.
DEEPFAKE IMAGE-BASED SEXUAL ABUSE, TECH-FACILITATED SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND THE LAW
Deepfake image-based sexual abuse represents a growing and alarming form of tech-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse that uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to create deceptive and non-consensual sexually explicit content. Vulnerable groups, particularly women and girls, face amplified risks and unique challenges in combatting deepfake image-based sexual abuse.
