Yesterday, Hindenburg Analysis printed an in depth report on Roblox, which lay a number of damning accusations at Roblox Company’s toes.
The principle two being that first, Roblox is flat-out mendacity to traders about how many individuals play and revel in Roblox, allegedly reporting engagement numbers which have been inflated by 42%. And second, that the platform is “an X-rated pedophile hellscape, exposing youngsters to grooming, pornography, violent content material and intensely abusive speech.”
Roblox has responded to the report with a press release of its personal, that takes a paragraph to reply to claims made about Roblox not being a protected place for youths, after which a full web page’s price of house to refute that it lies to traders.
The assertion is titled “Roblox Refutes Deceptive Claims in Hindenburg Report,” and instantly begins by saying that “Roblox rejects the claims made within the Hindenburg Report.”
It additionally provides the reminder that Hindenburg has a vested curiosity in Roblox being painted poorly as a brief promoting agency, and cites varied optimistic financials that aren’t included in Hindenburg’s report as a result of it “the optimistic details merely don’t assist their agenda.”
Roblox additionally factors to how Hindenburg represented Roblox’s reporting of person engagement with a breakdown of the way it defines every day lively customers (DAUs), and says once more that Hindenburg “uncared for to precisely report” on Roblox and its personal public disclosures.
Whereas Roblox is technically calling out all of Hindenburg’s claims as deceptive, it’s price noting how the assertion handles its responses to the 2 main claims made by Hindenburg.
To start out, right here’s the complete first paragraph that’s meant to deal with the accusations that Roblox isn’t a protected place for youngsters.
“Security and civility have been foundational to Roblox because the firm’s inception practically twenty years in the past, and the corporate has invested closely all through its historical past in its Belief & Security efforts. Daily, tens of hundreds of thousands of customers of all ages have protected and optimistic experiences on Roblox, abiding by the corporate’s Neighborhood Requirements.
Roblox takes any content material or conduct on the platform that doesn’t abide by its requirements extraordinarily significantly, and Roblox has a sturdy set of proactive and preventative security measures designed to catch and stop malicious or dangerous exercise on the platform. For extra details about Roblox’s security efforts, see this most up-to-date weblog publish.”
A eager reader will notice that it doesn’t refute or deny the accusation that Roblox is unsafe for youths, as a substitute it asks you to look in the direction of the “optimistic experiences” that the “tens of hundreds of thousands of customers” on Roblox have whereas saying it has all the time targeted on
Simply pointing folks in the direction of all the potential good nevertheless doesn’t negate the dangerous, particularly when ‘the dangerous’ goes so far as youngsters being kidnapped by predators.
The assertion closes by saying that Roblox will reply any additional questions throughout its subsequent quarterly earnings name, which is ready for October 31, 2024. It’ll be fascinating to see what impression Hindenburg Analysis’s report has on the questions posed to Roblox’s management, and if they really have any solutions.
Supply – [Roblox]
