Roblox banned in Russia on charges of distributing LGBTQ+ propaganda and extremist materials related to terrorism.
Roskomnadzor, Russia's communications and censorship watchdog, described Roblox as “replete with objectionable content that can negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children.” It also noted reports of child sexual abuse.
“We respect local laws and regulations in the countries where we operate,” a Roblox spokesperson said. Reuters“and believe that Roblox provides a positive space for everyone to learn, create, and connect meaningfully.”
The spokesperson added that Roblox is “deeply committed to security, and we have a robust set of proactive and proactive security measures designed to detect and prevent harmful content on our platform.”
Roskomnadzor has a history of restricting access to Western media and technologies that it believes violate Russian law, from Duolingo to WhatsApp and Telegram. Last week the watchdog threatened to block WhatsApp completely.
Russia, of course, has long had anti-LGBT laws: in 2013, they banned “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” among minors.
However, Roblox has also been criticized for questionable security measureswith last year's report claiming that the platform reported 13,316 cases of child exploitation. Roblox has been steadily improving its security standards this year, most recently age verification requirement for everyone wishing to communicate through the platform.
However, Russia is not the first country to ban Roblox. Türkiye also banned access to the platform last year. “to ensure the protection of our children.”
“We've spent nearly 20 years making Roblox one of the safest online platforms for our users, especially our youngest, and keeping our users safe is at the core of everything we do,” a Roblox spokesperson told Eurogamer at the time.
More recently, Roblox boss David Baszucki appeared on the New York Times Hard Fork podcast to discuss security measures.but he described the platform's predator problem as an “opportunity,” which amounted to a disastrous interview.
