Stop the game: the Roblox platform was blocked in Russia

Roskomnadzor has restricted access to the popular children's platform Roblox, explaining the decision by distributing extremist and inappropriate materials on the service. The agency pointed to weak moderation and risks for underage users. Despite the developers' attempts to clean up the content, Roblox, where the game worlds are created by the participants themselves, has once again found itself at the center of a dispute about the safety of the digital environment for children. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Why Roskomnadzor blocked Roblox

The Roblox children's gaming platform has been blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation due to the fact that there have been repeated cases of publishing content justifying terrorism, calls for violence, and LGBT-themed materials (the activities of the international LGBT movement are recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).

According to representatives of Roskomnadzor, the Roblox moderation system does not provide an adequate level of security, which leads to the appearance of inappropriate materials that can negatively affect children and encourage illegal actions.

Earlier in the day, users from different regions of Russia reported the unavailability of the service, including its mobile version. At the same time, back in November, the agency pointed out the presence of unwanted content on the platform and recalled that complaints about Roblox had been received since 2019.

It is noteworthy that the American company had previously fulfilled the requirements of the Russian department twice — in January and July. At that time, projects that violated Russian law were removed from the platform. In particular, it was about LGBT-themed content: servers with the appropriate names and objects where images or symbols associated with this community were used were blocked.

What is Roblox?

Roblox is an online platform that combines elements of a game designer and a social network. Users can create their own games, explore other participants' projects, and interact with each other in a virtual space.

The platform covers many genres and is especially popular among children and teenagers, to whom it gives the opportunity to fantasize, communicate and build their own digital worlds.

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What is the specificity of Roblox?

The platform is especially popular among children, as most Roblox games are not created by professional studios, but by the users themselves. Anyone can develop their own project without special training, and access to most games remains free, which makes the catalog open to a wide audience.

During its existence, Roblox has repeatedly become the object of public debate. Analytical companies pointed to weak content moderation, possible overestimation of activity statistics, and the presence of materials on the site that were not suitable for children. These questions were linked to attempts to increase audience engagement.

Roblox Corporation rejected such accusations, noting that some of the criticism was motivated by interest in the company's falling share price. Over the years, lawsuits have been filed against the platform from parents, and in some countries the issue of imposing restrictions to protect minors has been raised.