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When most people think of Roblox, they picture blocky avatars, obbies, and millions of kids playing after school. But when Roblox CEO David Baszucki opens his mouth, you might think this company is running some sort of social experiment. Over the years, he’s given public interviews that range from mildly strange to, “Did he really say that?” Here are six actual quotes from David Baszucki that sound a lot less publicity stunt and way more like a Black Mirror episode.
6. “We think of [child safety issue] not necessarily just as a problem, but an opportunity as well.”
Recently, Baszucki caught serious flak for saying something that many people found not just tone-deaf — but downright creepy.
Interviewer: How do you think of the problem of predators on Roblox?
Baszucki: We think of it not necessarily just as a problem, but an opportunity as well.
Framing child safety as a business opportunity is just plain wrong. Most expected a clear stance on accountability, not something that blurted out in a pitch deck or strategy meeting. He later doubled down, saying that the company is doing ‘an incredible job’ relative to the number of people working there.
Roblox reportedly has around 2,500 total employees — and historically only a few thousand human moderators. Yet, according to third-party data, Roblox has around 6.7 million active experiences as of 2025. Even the company itself has admitted that proper moderation at this scale would require ‘hundreds of thousands’ of humans working 24/7.
So when Baszucki says they’re doing ‘an incredible job,’ he might technically be right. It is incredible — as in, incredible that it’s even functioning at all.
5. “Someday we’ll have dating on Roblox.”
- Source: TechSpot, July 2025.
So I think there’s a loneliness epidemic going on in the world, I think I’ll go out on a limb and I’ll say for, in quotes, ’21 and up, ID verified, opted-in [users]’ some day we’ll have dating on Roblox […] and I think a lot of people who might be afraid to go on a real-life date might find it easier to have a virtual date to start and then if they connect, move to the physical world.
Sure, when we isolate a part of it, age and ID limits for a chatting app sound reasonable enough. But in the context of Roblox, this is a platform where avatars look like LEGOs and most users are still under 13! Even thinking about Roblox as a Tinder-lite should instantly raise an alarm in your head.
This was like hearing Chuck E. Cheese hosting a singles mixer next to the ball pit.
4. “Don’t let your kids be on Roblox.”
- Source: BBC News, March 2025.
Baszucki claimed Roblox is vigilant about safety, and insisted that ‘tens of millions’ of people had ‘amazing experiences’ on it. But then followed it with:
My first message would be: if you’re not comfortable, don’t let your kids be on Roblox. That sounds a little counterintuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions.
This sounds fair in principle; parents naturally do have a responsibility to keep a close eye on their children, even online. That is, until you remember Roblox is the one who built the space to begin with. Saying this is like installing a rollercoaster without seatbelts and adding a sign that reads: ‘Ride at your own risk — we trust your judgment!’
3. “Filtering everything […] is the future of how teens will communicate.”
- Source: Wbur.org, July 2025.
“I want to highlight we’ve been innovating on safety for almost 20 years now. All text and voice on our platform has always been filtered […] First is age estimation. So we’re starting to use [artificial intelligence] to estimate how old people are on the platform. And the other is trusted connections, figuring out people you know and trust.
[…] We think the combination of filtering everything, age estimation and trusted connections altogether is the future of how teens will communicate.”
This sounds dystopian — and that’s before you consider how unreliable AI moderation can be. Roblox users on Reddit have been complaining that they got mis-aged by AI and are losing the ability to chat. Meanwhile, others have gotten past photo verification systems just by abusing Photo Mode in games like Death Stranding. Teens also already have to censor themselves online, using new lingos to bypass any words deemed unsavory by the algorithm.
Introducing an automated referee for conversation makes Roblox sound less like an ‘experience,’ and more like a social experiment.
2. “Our moral, ethical values would go way above [the government]”
- Source: Axios on HBO, June 2021.
Speaking of safety and regulation, this one’s a doozy. Baszucki has claimed Roblox already had the tools to keep users safe a while back and didn’t need government intervention, or so he said.
“If the government means laws or regulations, I think we hold ourself to a much higher standard […] So I think our moral, ethical values would go way above that.”
Fast forward to 2025, and the quote aged as well as milk in a summer heatwave. Roblox is now facing increased pressure — from parents, digital safety watchdogs, and, you guessed it, lawmakers. Turns out, when you claim to be above regulation, the regulation starts paying attention.
1. “World domination!”
- Source: Wired, February 2013.
Interviewer: What is next for Roblox?
Baszucki: World domination! And we’re starting with our own world….
In 2013, it felt like a charming startup energy. Roblox just released its iOS App and is getting the mainstream spotlight. But what sounded like a throwaway joke now reads like a prophecy for the UGC/Metaverse Era. Over a decade later, Roblox has now gained the undivided attention of 47.4 million gamers worldwide, influenced education, workplace training, and even AI moderation. Maybe he was kidding… or maybe we’ve already entered phase one.
After six quotes like these, it’s hard to tell whether the Roblox CEO is building a game platform, a chatting-slash-dating app, or running a social experiment. At this point, the only thing more unpredictable than David Baszucki’s interviews might be what kind of controversy the company will cause.
