Adults engaging in sexual activity with children in virtual reality now illegal in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office is applauding a new law aimed at protecting children from online predators in a virtual reality environment.

With the signing of HB358 on Tuesday, an adult who uses their avatar in a virtual reality space to engage in sexual activity with another avatar — knowing the actor controlling that avatar is a child — can now be charged with a third-degree felony.

“Our children rely on the adults in their lives to safeguard their well-being and protect them from those who might prey upon them. Things that happen in virtual reality can be deeply traumatic and may lead to other forms of abuse in the real world. This law seeks to prevent that by targeting adults who use virtual spaces to exploit or groom children,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.

His office recently dealt with a case in which a mother found her 11-year-old daughter had fallen asleep with her VR headset still on. The mother looked into the VR device and discovered a long chat with “very graphic, sexually explicit” content from a man, the district attorney said.

But as his office reviewed the case, Gill said prosecutors couldn’t find a law specifically addressing this crime.

Rep. Verona Mauga, D-West Valley City, however, was able to get HB358 passed and now signed by the governor to address the deficiency in the law.

“We appreciate her dedicated work and patience with our office as we worked together with other stakeholders to refine this law to best protect our children in a virtual space that is evolving every day,” Gill said.

The district attorney said pedophiles are actively seeking out children in virtual reality environments. They are using avatars to entice and talk to users they know are children and groom them into having their avatars engage in sexual acts, he said.

With the new law, he says his office can now “be consistent with public policy concerns to protect children” with a “consistent enforcement scheme.”

Gill said this kind of behavior from consenting adults is not illegal.