Protecting profits and predators

 Roblox, a gaming platform with over 380 million monthly active users, has been facing increased criticism over its handling of predators. Around 60–70% of Roblox users are 17 or younger, which makes safety concerns even more critical. Sexual predators from all over the world see the platform as vulnerable and easy to exploit because of its size and weak moderation. 

Roblox seems to have a well-layered moderation system, filtered text chats, AI censors, human moderators, parental controls, and age restrictions. Only when put in practice do the holes in this system show. Because of the huge size of the platform, millions of complaints per week draw attention to hundreds of dangerous cases. “What Roblox represents as a safe, appropriate space for children is, in fact, a digital and real-life nightmare for kids,” Dolman Law Group states in its lawsuit against Roblox.

Furthermore, many cases of grooming aren’t reported at all. Many of these younger children may not fully understand the severity of what’s happening.

Another concern is that predators who befriend children in-game, immediately will attempt to divert conversations off-platform to sites like Discord, Snapchat, etc. This is very dangerous as on these other platforms, Roblox has no way to moderate and detect inappropriate conversations. Predators easily find ways to bypass this filter. 

Additionally, Roblox is often seen to be more concerned with protecting brand image and therefore profits over protecting its millions of users. 

“To go further, we’re making some updates to which experiences are restricted to ID-verified users 17 and older,” claimed Roblox. 

Unfortunately, 17 year olds are minors, you would think a corporation that was based in America where the age of consent is 18, to have stricter protections and policies. 

Schlep, a Youtuber that creates predator catching content on Roblox has brought this issue to the forefront of mainstream media. To many Roblox players’ dismay, he was recently banned. This caused uproar throughout the community as he worked directly with law enforcement, catching and arresting six Roblox predators. 

Only now, when tensions are high and Roblox has lost more than $12 billion in less than a week, is the company working to fix this issue. Now it has added a sentinel AI system that can scan millions of conversations for grooming patterns. There have also been additional parental controls that allow for limited friends, blocking inappropriate experiences, and monitoring played games. All these are steps in the correct directions but, Roblox could also be limiting adult spaces for 18+ as that is an adult in America. Also, hiring more human moderators that can understand attempts at more complicated attempts to bypass AI detection. Only 1,600 moderators for a platform with millions of players just doesn’t seem like enough. Not to mention, it should hire more employees to review any reports sent in by users. 

To conclude, Roblox’s massive popularity among minors, weak moderation, profit over protection mindset, and platform structure all allow predators to easily take advantage and take over this platform. These issues can only be solved if Roblox takes accountability for its actions and intensifies its efforts.