A brand new investigation reveals that youngsters as younger as 5 can simply entry inappropriate content material and work together unsupervised with adults on Roblox, regardless of the platform’s child-friendly picture and up to date security updates. The Guardian studies: Describing itself as “the final word digital universe,” Roblox options tens of millions of video games and interactive environments, identified collectively as “experiences.” Among the content material is developed by Roblox, however a lot of it’s user-generated. In 2024, the platform had greater than 85 million day by day lively customers, an estimated 40% of whom are below 13. Whereas the corporate stated it “deeply sympathized” with mother and father whose youngsters got here to hurt on the platform, it stated “tens of tens of millions of individuals have a optimistic, enriching and secure expertise on Roblox daily.”
Nonetheless, in an investigation shared with the Guardian, the digital-behavior specialists Revealing Actuality found “one thing deeply disturbing … a troubling disconnect between Roblox’s child-friendly look and the fact of what youngsters expertise on the platform.” […] Regardless of new instruments launched final week aimed toward giving mother and father extra management over their youngsters’s accounts, the researchers concluded: “Security controls that exist are restricted of their effectiveness and there are nonetheless vital dangers for youngsters on the platform.”