Understand What Online Sexual Grooming Really Is

Ava Kris Tyson, a former co-host of YouTuber MrBeast, has been alleged to have engaged in online sexual grooming for sending inappropriate messages to a minor. While Tyson has denied the allegations, she has quit, and MrBeast has hired investigators to conduct an investigation into the allegations. So, what is online sexual grooming?

While there has yet to be an agreed-upon definition, similar to in-person sexual grooming, online perpetrators seek to form a relationship with a minor to enact sexually abusive behaviors, 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. We have proposed that online sexual grooming mirrors the stages of in-person sexual grooming.

1. Victim selection: In the first stage of online grooming, the perpetrator selects a potential victim. Perpetrators will often lurk in the online environment, examining profiles, social media pictures, conversations, and usernames before making contact.

Victims are then selected based upon their appeal to the perpetrator (could be based upon physical attractiveness, gender, or age) and the ease of access (privacy settings disabled, inadequately set). There is some evidence that perpetrators tend to select victims who are located geographically close to them so that it is possible to meet in person. One study found that perpetrators chose victims based upon their perceived vulnerabilities (low self-esteem, little supervision, naivety) and the presence of sexual content on their social media, username, or profile.

2. Gaining access: Once potential victims are selected, the perpetrator will attempt to make contact with the minor. Given the nature of the internet, a perpetrator will often attempt to make contact with multiple potential victims at once to see who responds.

They will quickly share information about name, age, gender, and location and ask the child to share a picture so they can ensure they are communicating with a minor. Interestingly, most online predators do not hide the fact that they are adults, and only a minority will pose as other children online. Those who have an online presence can access youth through their social media platforms.

3. Trust development/relationship formation: In this next stage, the perpetrator works to form a relationship with the potential victim, pretending to share interests with the minor and empathizing with them about issues in their home or personal life. They will attempt to serve as an understanding confidante, and especially in the case of teenagers, may try to engage the vulnerable teen in a romantic “dating” relationship. Recent research suggests that traffickers are using online grooming methods to recruit youth online. In cases of online personalities, many of these individuals feel known to minors as minors watch their content regularly and feel as if they are “friends.”

4. Desensitizing minor to sexual content/risk assessment: In this stage, sexual content is gradually introduced. This may range from mildly suggestive to overt requests.

This is where the perpetrator is gauging whether the minor will cooperate with their grooming efforts and if the minor will send pictures or agree to meet in person. They are also assessing the risk of parental detection and may ask the minor targeted questions about parental monitoring of online activity.

What is important to note is that, unlike in-person grooming, which can take months or even years, online sexual grooming takes place very quickly. In our study, we found that sexual content was introduced within the first 30 minutes of online conversation in 69 percent of the cases, and within the first day in 98 percent of the cases.

5. Post-abuse maintenance/damage limitation: Once the minor has either sent a picture or met the perpetrator in person, the perpetrator will do one of two things. If they want to continue the abuse or get more images, they will use various techniques such as praise, threats of relationship abandonment/loss, or disclosure to parents to maintain secrecy. However, if the perpetrator has achieved their abusive goal (i.e., received pictures and/or abused the minor in person), they may use the “hit and run” tactic, where they simply cease all communication and contact with the minor.

While online child sexual abuse has been thought to be perpetrated by strangers, recent research suggests that two-thirds of children know the perpetrator offline. Further, when a child reports online sexual grooming, they know the perpetrator offline in 80 percent of the cases. Recently there has been concern that online personalities are using their celebrity status to engage in online grooming of minors. Understanding what online sexual grooming is and how the behaviors manifest in an online environment is integral to prevention.