Users who are 13 should not be able to access that room. I was using an app that says it’s suitable for ages seven plus, but I kept coming across rooms where people were gyrating and twerking and simulating sex. While using that profile I’d set to 13 years old, I was able to access all sorts of things I shouldn’t have. I just found myself asking: do I feel like I could keep myself safe in this environment? Could the average user? Could children? And at the moment: no, I don’t think they can. The way they expect you to complain doesn’t make any sense. But when you’re witnessing something that upsets you, your first thought isn’t necessarily: “Let me record this conversation so I can report it and they can take action”. You need names, IDs, some sort of evidence. It’s just so intimidating.Ī bigger problem is how hard it is to actually report that sort of behaviour. It tricks your brain into thinking you’re really experiencing it. I know it’s not real, but when you’ve got that headset on, it really feels like you’re there – you can hear their actual voices, and wherever you move your head, the world travels with you. It was the virtual equivalent of sexual assault. I tried to run away, but they backed me up against a wall, trying to grab at me, making sexual comments. At one point, seven users surrounded me and tried to force me to remove my safety shield so they could do things to my body. I went into chat rooms and people were berating me, actually screaming at me. I didn’t prompt any of it, I was just existing in that space. But the bad stuff kept coming so thick and fast. I was conscious we needed balance, so I found myself desperately trying to find good things to latch on to. It got to the point that I was really starting to worry how bad it was making our documentary look. And it all happened in a room I was able to access despite using a profile that I’d listed as being 13 years old. I’m talking extreme racism – hate speech, listing the kinds of people he hated, the kinds of people he wanted to kill.
I came across one user who was spewing the most disgusting language I’ve ever heard in my life, to the point where we couldn’t even broadcast what he was saying.