How are kids groomed online?

Recently, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has revealed that terrorist groups are using online games to groom children into committing acts of violence, such as mass shootings or burning down schools.

- BY JONATHAN CASTILLO

(Photo by Oberon Copeland on Unsplash)

These are foreign groups, according to the PNP, which makes it challenging to go after them. Perhaps, what we can do now is to explore why and how children are groomed while playing videogames.

The named game that is used as a vehicle for grooming children is Roblox. But other games are used as vehicles as well, such as Minecraft, and more aggressive games such as Fortnite, Valorant, and other similar titles. If it is a massively popular online game with a massive community, it is safe to assume that it is being used by groomers.

One thing these games all share in common is the open communication among players. The grooming process doesn’t start with some random person screaming for recruitment. Grooming is a long and arduous process.

We describe grooming as a process in building trust with someone who is vulnerable, be it child or adult, for the purpose of manipulating, abusing, and exploiting them.