Roblox is incredibly popular with kids. It is, after all, a platform targeted towards children, but it also doubles as a social site. Children can chat with one another in-game and through private messages. It’s easy to see why that mixture can lead to claims of harmful content, bullying, and even grooming.
With that in mind, Roblox’s co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki suggests if you, as a parent, aren’t comfortable with your children being on the platform, then “don’t let your kids be on Roblox,” as reported by the BBC.
What CEO Dave Baszucki fails to realize is that parents can’t be available 24/7. Parental controls can easily be circumvented with a bit of ingenuity. Chat moderation on the site isn’t perfect either. Users obscure their language and create experiences that bypass the platform’s safety tools.
If users are caught violating the rules and terms of service, “We watch for bullying, we watch for harassment, we filter all of those kinds of things, and I would say behind the scenes, the analysis goes on all the way to, if necessary, reaching out to law enforcement,” says CEO Dave Baszucki.
That’s all well and good, but Roblox has experiences that can quickly heighten these issues. In 2023, the company introduced a new type of experience—17+ content, which is obviously aimed at older users. With a little technical know-how, it isn’t hard to access these as an underage child. Not to mention Roblox also has voice chat for eligible 13+ accounts, creating another avenue for bad actors.
And what exactly is being done about rampant microtransactions? Where’s the oversight on Roblox experiences that are more or less gambling machines? Many are designed to siphon money from kids (and parents) who don’t know any better. Perhaps that would cut into the $41 billion Roblox is worth.
It’s rather tone deaf to add features and content not meant for kids that can be abused by horrible people only to point the finger at parents, especially when said parental controls can’t effectively stem the onslaught of questionable user-generated content.
