Roblox : ’I thought he was playing an innocent game’ - BBC News
►https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48450604
He had been playing Roblox online - where users build their own games and create characters with coloured blocks.
For Sarah, it initially seemed like an “innocent game”.
She had turned on parental controls, so her son - not yet a teenager - could not send messages.
But, over time, she noticed a change in his behaviour.
He would no longer want to join in with family activities he usually enjoyed.
Concerned, she decided to check the game - and discovered he had been communicating with others on a third-party app.
It was at that point she realised her son had been groomed into sending sexually explicit images of himself.
Ms Naylor also believes parents should be “skilled up” in how to protect their children online, without being judged.
It is also important that when instances of grooming do occur, she adds, children are given adequate support afterwards - as it can have an impact on their future relationships.
Sarah says in her case, she contacted Roblox to ask them how they had “allowed” her child to be groomed.
“They didn’t respond at all,” she says.
And when she took the case to the police and officers wanted access to the IP addresses of the suspected groomers, Roblox “refused”.
“They wouldn’t let our police have anything to do with it because we were in the UK and they are an American company,” Sarah says.
Et cet exemple qui rappelle le cas classique décrit dès les années 90 dans le Village Voice ;
Last year, a US mother wrote a Facebook post describing her shock at seeing her child’s avatar being “gang raped” by others in the online game.
She posted screenshots that showed two male avatars attacking her daughter’s female character.
Roblox said it had banned the player who had carried out the action.
#Jeux_vidéo #Roblox #Sexisme #Pédophilie #Irresponsabilité #Relations_internationales
