Charlie Kirk’s assassination has certainly sparked a lot of reactions online, and his death has become so widespread, it appears even gamers are now re-enacting it on video games, specifically Roblox. This online activity wasn’t exactly acceptable for GOP politicians, hence Roblox took swift action and started banning games that re-enact Charlie Kirk’s killing on their platform. This resolution, while quick, has drawn further scrutiny online.
David Baszucki, CEO and founder of Roblox, took to X/Twitter recently to address this growing issue for his video game platform. Baszucki, in response to GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, has confirmed and acknowledged that Roblox‘s Community Standards prohibit content and behavior that re-enacts specific real-world violence. The Roblox CEO has also promised a rapid review of any reports violating this standard.
It’s worth noting that Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was among the first few Republican politicians to call out Roblox for hosting games referencing Charlie Kirk’s killing. The Florida congresswoman has since thanked the video game platform for complying and paying respects to Charlie Kirk.
“Our moderation team started seeing violative content around Charlie Kirk yesterday, and we removed over 100 experiences so far and are continuing to take action. We encourage anyone to report content or behavior that may not comply with our policies by using our ‘report abuse’ feature. When users are found in violation of our community standards, we will take swift action to protect the safety and civility of our communit,” says a Roblox spokesperson, transcript courtesy of Fox Business
As for now, over 100 games about Charlie Kirk’s assassination or killing have been removed from the platform. Kirk was shot in the neck in Utah during a campus event where he was talking about gun violence and right-wing ideals. It’s not exactly clear how the Roblox gamers treat his death, but it appears any custom games on Roblox involving the late Charlie Kirk are now banned.
Roblox gets called out for a relatively slower response to a more pressing matter
Despite Roblox‘s fast response to a political issue, a lot of people online are still criticizing the platform because it has a huge safety issue for children. Roblox has been sued by the state of Louisiana for failing to protect children against predators, and many other worried parents in other states or even countries have made similar complaints. Thus, Roblox drew even more flak for somehow being selective of which community standards to uphold.
“But they won’t do much about child predators,” according to a Reddit user
“They’re willing to do this, but not help track down actual predators on their own platform. Wild.”
“but still not going to deal with the big issue with kids and creeps? ehhh you know what it’s fine…. it’s fine…”
Roblox CEO David Baszucki has reiterated his plans for updates on safety in response to the complaints, but his announcements on X/Twitter continue to be criticized for a slow resolution, and even X/Twitter users are correcting him via the context feature on the website, citing Roblox‘s history of ignoring its most glaring problem about child safety.
