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During the 25th government press conference held on Sept. 29, Saudi Minister of Media Salman Aldosari stated that his ministry and its partners have identified serious violations on the Roblox gaming platform.

They have held meetings with the company to address these issues or consider blocking the platform. In response, Roblox has deleted audio and text chats, along with 300,000 non-compliant games, although this deletion is temporary and contingent upon the development of effective content monitoring tools to protect children and adolescents from age-inappropriate material.

Earlier this year, Roblox assured the Saudi Ministry of Media of its commitment to enhancing oversight through artificial intelligence, pledging to implement a smart filtering system for all chat messages in its games to block inappropriate content and enable remote parental controls.

In a report released at the beginning of this year, Roblox indicated that the number of users in the Middle East and North Africa increased by 80 percent in the third quarter of 2021 to 2024, with user playtime rising by 76 percent during this period. Globally, Roblox reports 11.8 million active users daily, who send 61 billion chat messages, equating to over 50,000 messages per second. Notably, children under the age of 13 comprise 36 percent of the total users. Internet safety surveys indicate that half of the children on online gaming platforms experience digital harassment, with 145 million children aged 9 to 12 using Roblox worldwide.

Internet safety surveys indicate that half of the children on online gaming platforms experience digital harassment, with 145 million children aged 9 to 12 using Roblox worldwide.

While the company’s promises regarding content monitoring are undisputed, the reality within its gaming platform does not align. Roblox has only about 3,000 moderators for content oversight, according to its own figures. In comparison, TikTok, which has three times as many users as Roblox, boasts 13 times the number of moderators. The lack of oversight is evidenced by the presence of games that address topics deemed unacceptable, promoting violence and immoral behaviors.

Police in the US are currently investigating over 800 cases related to the exploitation of minors and teenagers by adults using the Roblox platform to lure them. A Bloomberg report revealed that between 2018 and 2024, at least 24 individuals linked to the platform were arrested on charges of kidnapping and child abuse. This includes individuals with prior offenses, as well as those in respectable professions such as teachers, nurses, and police officers.Ìý

Alarmingly, there have even been confirmed cases of five-year-olds communicating with adults on the platform. Roblox itself reported over 13,316 incidents occurring on its platform in 2023 alone, suggesting similar issues may exist beyond US borders.

Roblox markets itself as the safest gaming platform for children, introducing age-based communication systems that began in July 2025, utilizing trusted communication features and age verification through face recognition via a selfie video, with a government ID scan as an alternative.Ìý

While these methods may effectively ascertain user ages and prevent children from chatting with adults, the reliability of the video or ID ownership remains questionable. Automated filtering of inappropriate words does not prevent variations of those words, leading to a need for human content moderation.

Moreover, Roblox operates similarly to YouTube in incentivizing users with rewards based on user engagement metrics, akin to view counts on YouTube. Lawsuits against Roblox indicate that young players are often willing to comply with requests without hesitation to earn the platform’s virtual currency, known as Robux, to purchase accessories or tools within games, exposing them to numerous risks.

This context may explain the bans on Roblox in several countries, including some Gulf states, Turkiye, China, Jordan, Iran, North Korea, and even Guatemala.Ìý

Despite allocating 22 percent of its revenue in 2022 towards privacy protection, Roblox’s efforts have not made a notable difference, and its digital safety tools related to inappropriate content for children have been largely ineffective. The solution, once again, lies in parental involvement in their children’s gaming experience, ensuring that daily playtime does not exceed one hour, while other proposed solutions may appear convincing but are ultimately inadequate, especially in the case of Roblox.

• Dr. Bader bin Saud is a columnist for Al-Riyadh newspaper, a university professor in crowd management and strategic planning, and the former deputy commander of the special forces for Hajj and Umrah in º£½ÇÖ±²¥. X: @BaderbinSaud.

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