The use of online gaming environments in Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, 25 January 2027
Workshop provides a contemporary insight into the key issues and trends around how online gaming environments are being used by offenders to groom children as part of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
Offenders often target children in online gaming communities and virtual spaces, where AI-generated avatars or bots appear friendly and harmless, making it hard for children and young people to recognise potential dangers.
Children with limited digital literacy or those in low-resource areas are even more vulnerable, as they may not fully grasp online safety or have the support to report exploitation.
We Protect Global Alliance research
We Protect Global Alliance is at the forefront of a campaign to highlight the dangers and has publishing research outlining the current threat picture.
Key findings from the research include the extreme grooming speeds with which offenders target children, often in a matter of sections.
It also found there are high exposure rates in that 66 per cent of children spend their time online gaming, making them vulnerable to grooming.
The research also highlights the trend towards offenders initiating contact within the shared space of a video game or streaming platform then they rapidly move the child to encrypted messaging applications or private servers referred to ‘off platforming’ to evade standard platform moderation and safety detection mechanisms.
It also found that the scope of gaming exploitation has expanded into Extended Reality (XR) and Virtual Reality (VR) environments, where offenders simulate abuse, exploit synthetic material, and leverage immersive technology to gain direct proximity to children.
Outline of the day
Session One: an introduction to key issues and trends, results of the We Protect Global Alliance research and what it reveals about the current threat picture.
Session Two: Consideration of the offenders and the child victims who are involved in this sinister crime and how offenders can be targeted and child victim protected.
Session Three: key considerations for investigators and a look at the work We Protect Global Alliance is leading to advocate a structural shift in how gaming companies develop their services, pushing for a global implementation of Safety by Design principles. These guidelines demand that tech and gaming companies anticipate, detect, and eliminate structural risks within their applications rather than retroactively reacting to instances of abuse.
Our expert
The workshop will be led by Dr Bethany Jennings who is the Research Manager at We Protect Global Alliance and has worked extensively in the areas of child protection, homelessness, sexual violence and exploitation, holistic services and participation, both as a social worker and researcher.
Before joining We Protect Global Alliance, she worked for ‘Children In All Policies 2030’, based at University College London, advocating for children’s health and wellbeing to be centred in all policies through science, advocacy, and coalition building.
Who should attend?
This workshop is aimed at operational investigators and analysts working in an online CSAE role who want to develop and enhance their understanding of this growing area.
Held online via Teams
Certificates of CPD available
HOW TO BOOK
Cost: £209 + VAT (GBP) per delegate per workshop (LEA and Government Agency rate). £275 + VAT (Industry rate), per delegate
Group bookings: We offer various discounts for group bookings depending on numbers, please contact us for details.
Booking: Please send the delegates name(s), email address(es) and purchase order (made out to The Investigator) to booking@the-investigator.co.uk or telephone +44(0)844 660 8707 for further information.
Payment can be made by PayPal/debit/credit card. The meeting link will be sent out 7 days before the event.