Business Roblox’s child safety challenge: Protecting millions at scale

(L/A)
The news: Roblox faces fresh scrutiny over child safety after a BBC investigation bypassed its protections even after revising its child safety protocols in November, indicating that while it has ramped up efforts, there’s still more work to do. in November, indicating that while it has ramped up efforts, there’s still more work to do.

The BBC successfully created fake accounts for a 15-year-old and 27-year-old and steered conversations toward off-platform, adult-focused games. Directing users out of the platform is a violation of Roblox’s rules.

When asked about worried parents’ concerns about the platform, Roblox CEO David Baszucki said, “If you’re not comfortable, don’t let your kids be on Roblox,” per the BBC. He added that he would “trust parents to make their own decisions,” which could be challenging given Roblox’s immense popularity with kids.

Why it’s worth watching: Roblox has come under fire for reports of its platform exposing minors to harmful content, bullying, and grooming.

Baszucki said that Roblox’s safety tools, which the company is continuously updating, are capable of protecting users but noted that constant parental supervision is still necessary.

• Last month, Roblox, Google, OpenAI, and Discord launched Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST), a nonprofit focused on building free, open-source tools to fight online child exploitation.
• Children younger than 13 are no longer able to send direct messages (DMs) in platform chat.
• Parents can also access their children’s accounts from their own devices, rather than from their children’s devices, boosting their ability to limit screen time and monitor safety.

Growing out of proportion: Roblox might have tools and rules in place, but its immense size could make it difficult to enable protection at scale. Its active user base isn’t just growing, but also getting younger.

Children under 14 made up 65% of Roblox players in 2024, per CivicScience, and users skewing younger adds to the complexity of securing the over 40 million games and experiences on the gaming platform.

Our take: Roblox’s evolving safety measures present a test case for trust in digital ecosystems as regulators and governments aggressively pursue child safety.

Brands should weigh the risks before joining youth-focused platforms. Having clear safety policies and actively monitoring and addressing user concerns can build trust with consumers.

 

[Inco G. Nito]

I'm sorry. "The rampant furry porn on our children's platform is actually your problem, if you don't like it don't let your kid play Roblox"?? Okay, David. I guess that officially means they're in on it now.
Oh Erik, poor Erik.

 

[BlueFarms]

Children younger than 13 are no longer able to send direct messages (DMs) in platform chat.

How about no DMs on a fucking children's game.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Roblox is such a weird fucking thing. It exists and incredibly popular but never seems to get outside of its own circle like Minecraft or GTA Online did. It's like it was made entirely for adults to prey on autistic kids.

 

[Otterly]

How about no DMs on a fucking children's game.

You can set it to no chat at all or only chat with friends.
The problem is that what you CANT do is set it so that all friend requests come to a parent for approval, or see chat real time on a parent device,
My way around it is no chat, or I will enable it temporarily if they need it for a specific game, but before I do that I check their friends list. It’s all kids we know, then I turn it back off. Minecraft is all on device or LAN only so they can play with each other in worlds they create, but no other public or unknown ones.
There are things Roblox could do to be significantly safer, but they don’t. You have to keep a really close eye on kids online.
It really annoys me when school give them internet based things they have to do because I have the browsers disabled, so they can’t link out from games into websites etc.
At the end of the day you have to watch kids online and gradually give them more freedom as they get older along with several Very Cringe Mum chats about how people online are not to be trusted, make them alert you to anything weird etc. And when they do alert you, never tell them off, just tell them well dine and remove the threat/talk about the situation.

 

[Miriam Margoyles]

I'm sorry. "The rampant furry porn on our children's platform is actually your problem, if you don't like it don't let your kid play Roblox"?? Okay, David. I guess that officially means they're in on it now.
Oh Erik, poor Erik.

This actually makes me really angry. There are literally no places kids can just be kids now. They've all been ruined by adults who are, at best, indifferent and, at worst, actively predatory.

And the very people who should be taking steps to safeguard children, who I would argue have a fucking responsibility to safeguard children, are all "Not my problem, guv." Fuck off, you're the fucking Roblox guy. That's your job.

 

[lego racers]

"if you don't like that there's pedos on our child-friendly platform, why don't you just go somewhere else?"

 

[That Johnny Test Whiplash]

Platforms meant for children like Roblox should be subject to harsher Section 230 requirements and punishments. The AI tools exist today to tackle this, and there are plenty of steps that they can take (like Otterly suggested) to make this easier to catch for the parents who give a fuck. There's no excuse for them.

 

[Roast Chicken]

Ah yes, Roblox, the shitty Lego-like world that is awash with stuff like this:

And that's just some of the stuff that comes up when you search "Roblox gore"; why on earth you'd pick bloody Roblox to make this stuff still baffles me.

 

[That Guy Who Likes The Chili]

Children Safety tools only work for children when their parents take an active interest in their children's Safety.

You're always gunna have those parents who are going to be actively neglectful and will ignore every single red flag in their child's life then when something happens they see dollar signs.

I think my favorite Roblox abuse story was the one of the 14y/o girl who was getting molested by her own dad, and tried to confide in a friend on roblox about it, who turned out being not a fellow kid but another adult. Who promptly went onto exploit her.

 

[Lazy Drei]

Roblox is such a weird fucking thing. It exists and incredibly popular but never seems to get outside of its own circle like Minecraft or GTA Online did. It's like it was made entirely for adults to prey on autistic kids.

I used to play it when I was a young un' between 2008-2014~, never, ever did I encounter the issues they have over the last years.

Me and friends just played shooting sims and were in clans to do clan battles for fun and bragging rights, I actually still have a few friends whom I met in-game from across the globe back then that I speak with on a regular basis even more than a decade later.

What I believe is that it's specifically being targeted by creeps and pedo's just because how lax the security is and this has become a more popular 'poaching ground' so to speak for diddlers and coomers.

The CEO's statements are nothing less than saying: 'Yeah, we don't really give a fuck, you take care of your own kids'; instead of saying at least symbolically thay they are making an active effort to make it a more secure place for minors.

I non-ironically believe that they make a lot of money from the creeps and coomers who buy in-game shit to approach and groom minors and that's why they let it happen so casually, it's not a far-fetched and logical explanation imho.

 

[Irrational Exuberance]

And when they do alert you, never tell them off, just tell them well done and remove the threat/talk about the situation.

Absolutely this; the very last thing you want is to send mixed messages about whether the children can (or should!) talk to you about anything.

 

[Angry Alt Right Nerd]

This actually makes me really angry. There are literally no places kids can just be kids now. They've all been ruined by adults who are, at best, indifferent and, at worst, actively predatory.

Leave the indifferent adults alone they just want to play with their children's electronic entertainment in peace

 

[FootballBuff]

Ahhh the old "dont buy my product" sales tactic. EA tried something similar to this when they released Battlefield 5 and had black african women dawning Nazi attire in the multi-player because "muh diversity" people said thats stupid and the CEO basically said if you dont like it, the games not for you, so dont buy it.

Funny enough the result of the CEO telling people not to buy their product was...

That no one bought their product: Battlefield 5.

This is going to be interesting, telling people NOT to buy your product is a business strategy only a retard would come up with. Maybe they're hoping parents will cave and allow their children to be groomed online just to shut their kids autistic screeching up. Some will, but all its going to take is one semi informed group of parents to start gossiping about this then suddenly anyone who lets their kids play roblox gets looked at like they're spooning mayonnaise into their kids mouth straight out of the jar.

 

[Rabbi Palpenstein]

Children Safety tools only work for children when their parents take an active interest in their children's Safety.

You're always gunna have those parents who are going to be actively neglectful and will ignore every single red flag in their child's life then when something happens they see dollar signs.

Slightly off topic, but parents not checking what their kids are consuming is nothing new. If they actually gave a shit enough to look at what we were playing/watching/reading, Animorphs would have given them a fucking fit. A long story about war crimes, desensitization towards violence, child soldiers, and GRAPHIC displays of evisceration, all packaged as a childrens book series

 

[Trigger Me Timbers]

So the RoBlax CEO just did the equivalent of:

“If your uncomfortable with your kids being junkies, don’t let them do drugs!”

Like nigga, you know that most kids access vidya without their parents knowing.

Back in my day, if I snuck a game around my parents I would see some gore and maybe a cuss word.

Nowadays, kids sneak a game around their parents and they become brain dead “BBC slave” trannies with a busted open asshole and hundreds of dollars in robux debt to “daddy_dom_xxx” which can only be paid off in gaped asshole pics.

I hate this fucking dead gay earth sometimes.

 

[Rudolf's Friend]

David (((Bazooka))) needs to be sent to jail already.

 

[Pro-Islam = Anti-Woman]

Not much of a difference from 13 to 14.

 

[The Punished Mitch]

And when they do alert you, never tell them off, just tell them well dine and remove the threat/talk about the situation.

Very underrated advice, vast majority of parents these days are slow brained and unable to look at things from a child's perspective. Children don't really care about what you say, they respond to what you do. You can tell them it's okay to tell mommy and daddy absolutely anything but if you lose your mind after they come to you and confess to having spilled grape juice all over the rug the lesson you actually gave them is that they actually can't freely speak to mom and dad because they'll get in trouble.

Now that same kid gets flashed a cock in Roblox a year later and instead of coming to mom and dad they keep it to themselves.

 

[TheRuckersvilleRapist]

Roblox should moderate thier shit properly but telling parents to parent their kids properly is based