August 11, 2025 | 12:09 pm
Sexual harassment of children is rampant through online games. The End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) Indonesia assesses that sexual predators employ various tactics to target children through online games.
Ahmad Sofian, the head of ECPAT Indonesia, stated that sexual harassment through online games is often carried out through psychological manipulation. These sexual predators understand what children like. "They often offer help to level up in the game, give game items for free, or simply invite them to play together," Sofian said when contacted by Tempo on Friday, August 8, 2025.
He mentioned that this pattern often leads to more intense communication. Sexual predators or pedophiles will build the children's trust by giving intense attention, eventually making the children feel emotionally dependent.
Subsequently, the perpetrators will persuade the children to move to more private communication channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord. "In these private spaces, predators have greater control," he said.
This approach will lead to sexual exploitation. After establishing a more isolated communication space, the perpetrators begin to request indecent photos or videos. "It may even lead to blackmail with threats to distribute the photos or videos if the child does not comply with their demands," Sofian said.
Sexual harassment through online games came into the spotlight after the East Kalimantan Regional Police arrested a young man with the initials AMZ who allegedly harassed a 15-year-old child from Sweden through Roblox. AMZ asked for about 30 indecent photos and videos from the child and then blackmailed them.
The Head of Public Relations of the East Kalimantan Regional Police, Commissioner Yuliyanto, said the investigation stopped after the victim's family chose the restorative justice route. The victim's family only asked the perpetrator to apologize and delete all the child's photos and videos. "All content was destroyed. The victim's parents watched through Zoom," Yuliyanto told Tempo on Thursday, August 7, 2025.
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