An examination by Kulturnytt shows that children are increasingly exposed to grooming by perpetrators in online games, at the same time as a majority of police reports are closed.
We are described how children and young people are pressed to send naked pictures to get different rewards and move on in the game. This must come to an end, says Minister for Social Services Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, to TT.
On Wednesday, she and Minister for Gender Equality Nina Larsson (L) held a meeting with game companies, as well as children's rights organizations Ecpat and Child X. She now demands that the companies act:
My message was clear – the game companies must take greater responsibility for preventing children from being exposed to grooming online, says Waltersson Grönvall.
AI a tool
According to the minister, the platforms should, among other things, review their age checks and controls of chat functions and contacts made.
AI will be an important tool here, but there must be limitation functions where it strikes directly.
Waltersson Grönvall hopes that the signals from the government will be enough, but says that they "will not hesitate to take action" if no improvement occurs. She does not, however, go into what actions may become relevant.
"Analyzing the needs"
Several actors, including the children's rights organization Child X, have demanded stricter legislation so that game companies, for example, can be forced to share chat history.
Do you see a need to change the legislation?
We are analyzing how the needs look. It could be an example of legislation that we look further into.
The government also wants to ensure that the police and other actors working with young people have information that it is possible to take down pictures from the internet.
Many children and young people believe that the material can never be taken down from the internet – and that is not true.
