A
popular
financial
newsletter
is
accusing
Roblox
of
allowing
large-scale
child
sexual
exploitation
and
inappropriate
content
on
its
platform,
drawing
on
years
of
media
reports.
The
allegations
are
detailed
in
The
Bear
Cave,
a
short
selling
newsletter
—
but
Roblox
says
The
Bear
Cave’s
founder
is
highlighting
rare
instances
of
abuse
to
profit
by
making
the
service
look
bad.
“This
article
contains
misleading,
irresponsible
and
in
many
cases
false
accusations
about
Roblox
to
further
the
author’s
motives
as
a
short
seller,”
Eric
Porterfield,
Roblox’s
senior
director
of
policy
communications,
told
The
Verge.
“We
reject
the
claim
that
child
endangerment
is
a
widespread
or
systemic
problem
on
Roblox,
and
millions
of
people
have
a
safe
and
positive
experience
on
the
platform
every
day.”
The
Bear
Cave’s
report
lists
16
instances
since
2020
in
which
adults
were
arrested
or
indicted
for
sexually
exploiting
children
they
met
on
Roblox,
one
of
which
involved
a
man
who
“groomed
150
children
to
engage
in
sexual
activity”
on
the
platform.
It
also
discusses
so-called
“condo
games”
in
which
users
simulate
sex,
as
previously
reported
by
the
BBC.
To
be
sure,
these
documented
instances
involve
a
small
fraction
of
Roblox’s
massive
user
base:
the
platform
has
more
than
79
million
daily
active
users,
42
percent
of
which
are
aged
13
or
younger,
according
to
VentureBeat.
Porterfield
told
The
Verge
that
Roblox
continuously
updates
its
safety
practices
to
“catch
and
prevent
malicious
activity”
on
the
platform,
including
by
blocking
inappropriate
words
and
phrases
in
chat
and
not
allowing
image-to-image
sharing.
Roblox
says
the
condo
games
are
typically
removed
quickly
—
within
minutes
—
and
are
hard
for
average
users
to
find.
The
Bear
Cave’s
report
also
claims
that
Roblox
hosts
nonsexual
inappropriate
content,
including
games
in
which
players
reenact
school
shootings
or
the
Holocaust.
The
Verge
has
previously
reported
reenactments
of
mass
shootings,
including
the
attack
on
mosques
in
Christchurch,
New
Zealand,
on
Roblox,
and
Wired
reporters
have
seen
Nazi
role-plays
on
the
platform.
In
August
2023,
two
California
families
sued
Roblox
for
allegedly
allowing
illegal
gambling
rings
to
prey
on
children
on
the
platform.
Roblox
has
unsuccessfully
tried
to
get
the
charges
dismissed.
Reports
of
inappropriate
content
on
Roblox
—
sexual
or
otherwise
—
aren’t
a
new
problem
for
the
service,
and
they’re
not
necessarily
surprising
given
its
tens
of
millions
of
users.
Still,
it’s
a
particularly
heated
issue
for
Roblox
at
a
time
when
legislators
and
advocates
are
debating
just
how
much
responsibility
platforms
have
for
child
protection.
Roblox
has
been
involved
in
lobbying
to
shape
the
Kids
Online
Safety
Act,
and
its
CEO,
David
Baszucki,
traveled
to
Capitol
Hill
earlier
this
year
to
meet
with
legislators.
“One
of
the
things
specifically
with
KOSA
is
that
we
want
to
make
sure
that
when
young
people
are
learning
to
create
and
sharing
their
creations,
for
example,
that
doesn’t
get
turned
off,”
Baszucki
said
in
an
April
interview
with
Command
Line’s
Alex
Heath.
“Or
when
there
is
organic
learning
on
our
platform
or
positive
communication
in
some
way,
we
don’t
restrict
it.”
(Originally posted by Gaby Del Valle)
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