- Turkey has blocked the popular gaming platform Roblox over concerns about content that could trigger child abuse, Justice Minister said.
- Roblox reported more than 13,000 incidents of child exploitation in 2023, according to a Bloomberg report released last month.
OUR TAKE
Recently, Turkey’s Minister of Justice Yilmaz Tunc announced that Turkey has decided to block the popular gaming platform Roblox due to concerns about content that could trigger child abuse, a move that follows Turkey’s blocking of Instagram, which has received unprecedented attention for its security measures and focus on child protection as a gaming platform with a large user base, especially underage users. have come under unprecedented scrutiny. Furthermore, according to a Bloomberg report, Roblox reported over 13,000 incidents of child exploitation in 2023, a surge that has raised concerns among the public and regulators.
–Elodie Qian, BTW reporter
What happened
Turkey has taken the decision to block access to Roblox, a popular gaming platform, citing concerns over content that may facilitate child abuse, according to the country’s Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc.
“Our country is obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of our children,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on social media platform X. “Using technology in a negative way is never acceptable.”
A Turkish court has enforced the blockage following an investigation by prosecutors in Adana, which raised flags about potentially harmful content towards children. However, specific details of the investigation have not been disclosed.
Roblox, known for hosting user-generated games, has a spokesperson who stated that the safety of its users, particularly the younger ones, is paramount. The company’s commitment to adhering to local laws and working alongside lawmakers was highlighted, with the spokesperson expressing a desire to resolve the issue swiftly to resume services in Turkey.
“We respect the laws and regulations in countries where we operate and share local lawmakers’ commitment to children. We look forward to working together to ensure Roblox is back online in Türkiye as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said in an email to Reuters.
This move follows a recent ban on Instagram, another social media platform, for similar reasons of non-compliance with Turkish laws and public sensitivities. Despite talks between Turkish officials and Instagram, the dispute remains unresolved.
Also read: Turkey blocks Instagram but gives no reason
Also read: Turkey levies daily fine to Meta over compliance shortcomings
Why it’s important
Roblox reported more than 13,000 incidents of child exploitation in 2023, according to a Bloomberg report released last month.
The platform’s broad reach, serving around 77 million daily players — including 40% under the age of 13 — has brought its safety measures into focus.
According to Bloomberg, the report exposes the platform’s “predator problem”. According to the report, Roblox reported nearly 3,000 incidents of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2022, while last year that number jumped to more than 13,000.
While Roblox has been increasing child safety measures in recent years, some current and former employees claim that the company is prioritising growth over the well-being of its users.
In a statement released to VGC last month, a Roblox spokesperson claimed, “A recent article contained glaring mischaracterizations about how we protect users of all ages on the platform and failed to reflect both the complexities of online child safety and the realities of the overwhelmingly positive experiences that tens of millions of people of all ages have on Roblox every single day.”
Roblox has seen a drop of at least 2.5% in concurrent users (CCU), which shows just how big the market is in Turkey. The ban also means that Turkish Roblox developers can no longer work, at least not in their original capacity. Even Roblox developers outside of Turkey have been affected, with Donate RNG developers, for example, stating that their game has lost 50% of its players.
