Leaked infrastructure documents revealed that cyberspace authorities have tools to erase a person's avatar. The government denies they exist.

Cyberspace, the sprawling city that millions of denizens call home, has long been beloved for its diversity and vast freedom of expression. The "avatar" system, a miracle of modern technology, lets users build and customize their appearance from the ground up, allowing them to transcend their physical constraints and present their true inner selves. However, recently leaked documents have revealed that new, unforeseeen restrictions exist within the avatar system, which critics are calling a rights violation.

Officially, an avatar may be prohibited on an individual basis if it is found to be "in violation of public safety". For instance, avatars that include hate speech are not permitted. However, according to documents provided by an anonymous whistleblower working within Cyberspace’s infrastructure, these tools have been expanded beyond their initial scope under the current Cyberspace Liberty Party administration, who recently gained power after a tumultuous election period last year, and are now alledgedly being used to suppressed their political dissidents and curtail unrest.

Based on the leaked documentation, it is alledged that the government is using a combination of newly installed surveillance systems and machine learning algorithms to track and monitor users for affiliation with controversial activist groups (such as the notorious hacktivist group "UNDEAD") or even individual counts of political dissidence. Once an individual is identified as a dissident, they are subjected to a process known as "Graying", where their avatar is removed and replaced with a "stick figure-like" gray boxy avatar.

"The entire concept of graying is about stripping away your identity," the whistleblower stated. "People's ability to appear as their true self is essential to the fabric of Cyberspace. By holding this ability hostage to their fealty to a government, they're essentially silencing people without outright removing them."

One alledged victim of this attack is digital rights advocate Clementine Morgan. "I spent years learning how to cultivate my appearance" said Clementine. "To have it taken away and replaced with a default avatar feels like losing my ability to be myself. It's not just about being anonymized, it's about being erased as a person."

Clementine, who organized a key protest on new laws expanding the CLP government's right to surveillance, abruptly woke up a day after the protest to find that her customized avatar was no longer available and that she only had access to a gray default avatar. "Suddenly, none of my friends or family were able to recognize me. My voice and my appearance were all erased and I was turned into an anonymous gray figure. It's a violation of everything Cyberspace is meant to be".

While the existence of moderation tools has long been acknowledged as a part of Cyberspace's systems, the CLP administration has denied the existence of the "graying" process. "We simply do not have the ability to remove a user's ability to use the avatar system altogether." stated a representative of the Smith administration. "We have tools to restrict specific avatars from being used, but these are only used in extreme circumstances and the claim of a widespread conspiracy to restrict freedom of self-expression is simply a false media narrative designed to undermine our mandate to govern."

In addition, a counter conspiracy theory appears to be developing amongst CLP supporters which suggests that gray avatars are commonly used by cybercriminals to avoid detection, with the default avatar earning the derisive nickname of "terrorist grays". Jason Ares, host of controversial far right online show "TruthWeavers", recently held a broadcast wherein he decried the increased presence of grayed individuals in public spaces and declared them a threat to municipal safety. However, statistics released by the Board of CyberSpace Security indicate that crime rates among default gray avatar users are in line with other avatar groups.

Despite the government's refutation of these claims and increasingly disivie rhethoric surrounding the issue, outrage over graying has led to growing protests, with the "Free Our Bodies" movement gaining prominence as more individuals come out with claims of avatar restrictions for political dissidents. In addition, hacktivist groups have alledgedly been prototyping methods of circumventing avatar restrictions. As a matter of fact, controversial hacktivist and IVDA-designated cybercriminal "Koolcat", one of the most public individuals who have alleged to have been "grayed", was last publicly spotted in the new millennium district with a pair of non-standard ears attached to their default avatar.

As this conspiracy theory gains traction, the future of self-expression in Cyberspace remains contentious. Activists from a variety of disparate groups are joining together for the first time to raise awareness of this alleged injustice. And while a recent survey indicated that only 38% of citizens believe that graying exists, that is more than double the 16% of citizens who expressed belief in this theory just one year ago. However, belief that cybercriminals are using gray avatars has also shot up to 28% from a mere 4% a year ago, with only 26% of recipients indicating that they believe that the increase in gray avatars is explained by personal choice (the remaining 8% responded that they were "unsure"). The end result of this controversy may dictate how the avatar system progresses throughout the rest of this decade and the future of the metropolis going forwards.