Study finds metaverse platforms rely on reactive responses to gendered harassment

An analysis reports that women, non-binary and LGBTQ+ users face abuse, sexual assault of avatars, doxxing and exclusion in immersive online spaces.

Abstract editorial illustration accompanying the article: Study finds metaverse platforms rely on reactive responses to gendered harassment

Editorial illustration — not from the study.

The paper examines gender-based harassment in immersive virtual environments using existing research, platform policy documents and illustrative case studies. It reports that women, non-binary and LGBTQ+ users disproportionately encounter verbal abuse, avatar-based sexual assault, doxxing and systematic exclusion.

The analysis links these harms to platform designs that can enable anonymity, moderation that responds after incidents occur, and policies that do not sufficiently address intersecting identities. The authors propose policy recommendations for platform developers, regulators and civil society groups.

Harassment across virtual spaces

The study reports that women, non-binary and LGBTQ+ users disproportionately experience several forms of gender-based harm in metaverse spaces: verbal abuse, sexual assault directed at avatars, doxxing and systematic exclusion. It identifies anonymity-enabling design, reactive rather than proactive moderation, and a lack of policies sensitive to overlapping identities as structural weaknesses in platform governance. The analysis covers major platforms including Meta Horizon Worlds, VRChat and Decentraland.

Why platform design matters

The findings suggest that immersive digital spaces can reproduce existing gender inequalities rather than serving as neutral settings for social interaction. They also point to a gap between the seriousness of reported harms and the way platforms currently govern them, making platform design, moderation and policy central to users’ safety and participation.

Evidence and limits

The paper draws on secondary data analysis, a systematic content analysis of existing empirical research and platform policy documents, and illustrative case study evidence. The abstract does not report a new participant sample, incident count or measured effect size, so it cannot establish how common each form of harm is across all immersive platforms. Its conclusions are based on the evidence reviewed and the selected cases and documents.

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