The former co-host of Mr Beast is accused of online sexual grooming which highlights the question, are Eastbourne children safe from online sexual grooming?
In online sexual grooming, offenders create a relationship with the minor to carry out abuse.
Most young people who go through internet sexual grooming know their offender offline.
Using their access to kids, some internet personalities could participate in online sexual grooming.
The former co-host of YouTuber MrBeast, Ava Kris Tyson, has been claimed to have used online sexual grooming to send inappropriate messages to a youngster. Tyson has refuted the claims, but she left, and MrBeast has hired investigators to look into the claims. Online sexual grooming, then, is what?
Similar to in-person sexual grooming, online offenders seek to establish a relationship with a minor to carry out sexually abusive behaviours, which can include the sending or receiving of child sex abuse material, meeting a minor in person for offline sexual abuse, recruiting a minor for sex trafficking, or engaging in inappropriate sexual conversations. However, an agreed-upon definition is yet unknown. Online sexual grooming, we have suggested, reflects the phases of in-person sexual grooming.
The first stage of internet grooming is when the offender chooses a possible victim. Often hiding on the internet, offenders will search profiles, social media images, conversations, and usernames before contacting them.
After that, victims are chosen depending on their appeal to the offender (may be based upon physical attractiveness, gender, or age) and the ease of access (privacy settings disabled, insufficiently configured). Some evidence suggests that offenders choose victims who live near them so they may personally meet. One study revealed that offenders targeted victims depending on their perceived vulnerabilities—low self-esteem, limited supervision, naivety—and the existence of sexual content on their social media, username, or profile.
Once possible victims have been chosen, the offender will try to interact with the young person. Given the nature of the internet, an offender will often try to reach several possible victims at once to observe who reacts.
To ensure they speak with a kid, they will rapidly exchange information like name, age, gender, and location and ask the youngster to send a picture. Fascinatingly, just a fraction of online predators pretend to be other youngsters; most of them do not hide their adult nature. Those with an online presence can access young people via social media accounts.
In this following phase, the offender seeks to establish a relationship with the possible victim to share interests with the minor and sympathetically relate with them about problems in their personal or home life. They will try to be an empathetic confidante, particularly concerning teens who could try to involve the sensitive adolescent in a romantic “dating” relationship. Recent studies point to traffickers recruiting young people online by utilising online grooming techniques. In cases of online personas, many of these people seem known to youngsters as they routinely view their posts and believe them to be “friends.”
Desensitising minor to sexual content/risk assessment: This stage introduces sexual content gradually. This might cover overt requests as well as somewhat suggestive ones.
Here, the offender decides if the minor will email images or agree to meet personally and whether they will help with their grooming initiatives. They could also ask the minor focused questions on parental monitoring of online activities and evaluate the danger of parental discovery.
Unlike in-person grooming, which may take months or even years, online sexual grooming occurs quite rapidly. In our study, we discovered that in 69 per cent of the cases, sexual information was included within the first 30 minutes of online communication; in 98 per cent of the cases, it was included throughout the first day.
Once the youngster has either submitted a picture or personally met the offender, the offender will do one of two things depending on their post-abuse maintenance/damage limitation. They will employ praise, threats of relationship desertion or loss, or disclosure to parents to keep secrets if they wish to keep the abuse going or obtain additional photographs. On the other hand, should the offender reach their abusive objective—that is, get images and physically mistreat the youngster in person—they can employ the “hit and run” strategy, whereby they just cut off all contact with the minor.
Although internet child sexual abuse has been believed to be carried out by strangers, two-thirds of youngsters know the offender personally, according to current studies. Moreover, in 80 per cent of the cases, when a youngster reports online sexual grooming, the offender is offline. Online personalities have lately drawn attention for allegedly engaging in online grooming of young people utilising their celebrity positions. Prevention depends on an awareness of what online sexual grooming is and how the activities show up in an online setting.
References
Jeglic, E.J., & Calkins, C.A. (2018). Protecting your child from sexual abuse: What you need to know to keep your kids safe. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.
Winters, G.M., & Jeglic, E.L. (2022). Sexual Grooming: Integrating Research, Practice, Prevention, and Policy. Springer.
Riyah Collins. MrBeast hires investigators over co-host grooming claims. BBC. July 25, 2024.
Lindsay Dodgson. Relationships between influencers and their fans are inherently problematic, experts say. Business Insider. March 19, 2021.
Originally written by Elizabeth L. Jeglic Ph.D.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.