The platform had allegedly been spreading extremist and LGBTQ-related content, the country\u2019s media watchdog has said<\/p>\n
US gaming platform Roblox has officially been banned in Russia after the country\u2019s media watchdog said it had identified \u201cmass and repeated distribution\u201d of illegal materials, including extremist content and LGBTQ propaganda.
\nRoblox is an online gaming platform with more than 150 million daily active users, marketed largely toward children, where players create their own games, join worlds built by others, and interact across a shared virtual environment.
\nOn Wednesday, Russia\u2019s Roskomnadzor announced that it would be blocking access to Roblox servers, stating that the platform\u2019s content may harm the \u201cspiritual and moral development of children.\u201d
\nThe watchdog cited the presence of sexually explicit interactions, harassment, and attempts by adults to contact minors inside Roblox\u2019s chat features. Additionally, the regulator said Roblox has hosted material \u201cpromoting and justifying extremist and terrorist activity, calls for violent crimes, and LGBT propaganda.\u201d\u00a0
\nRussian legislators had previously warned that the platform is popular among predators who approach minors in-game before attempting to move conversations offline, pointing to multiple reports of sexual harassment and solicitation.
\nRoskomnadzor noted that it has repeatedly notified Roblox since 2019 about prohibited material and concluded that its internal moderation systems have been unable to ensure full safety on the platform.<\/p>\n
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The ban comes as Roblox has faced wider scrutiny internationally. Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit accusing the company of \u201cflagrantly ignoring\u201d safety laws and \u201cdeceiving parents,\u201d calling Roblox a \u201cbreeding ground for predators\u201d and alleging it puts \u201cpixel paedophiles and corporate profit\u201d over child safety. Kentucky and Louisiana have launched similar suits.
\nThe platform has similarly been banned in Iraq and T\u00fcrkiye over concerns about exploitation and inappropriate content. Roblox also came under scrutiny in Singapore in 2023 after regulators said a self-radicalised teenager had joined ISIS-themed servers on the platform.
\nRoblox has said it is \u201cdisappointed\u201d to be sued based on \u201cmisrepresentations and sensationalized claims,\u201d insisting it has a \u201cdeep commitment to safety\u201d and uses extensive monitoring systems, text filtering and age-verification measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The platform had allegedly been spreading extremist and LGBTQ-related content, the country\u2019s media watchdog has said US gaming platform Roblox has officially been banned in Russia after the country\u2019s media…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}