A new report from Bloomberg highlights the serious security problems that exist in the ‘Roblox’ environment. The platform accumulated last year More than 13 thousand complaints reported to the US authorities that are related to child abuse. If we compare it with the data offered in 2022, the figure increased by no less than 10 thousand reports, something very worrying considering that the team members themselves assure that the company’s policy prioritizes growth over the security of its users.
Roblox has over 70 million daily users
From them, More than 40% are under 13 years oldwhich makes it a very attractive habitat for sexual predators. For example, the article recounts some real cases, such as that of a user who achieved a certain popularity by creating a Sonic game space within the platform. Arnold Castillo, 22, earned a lot of money, attracted the attention of a huge number of children and had contact with several of them, until he was arrested at his home by the FBI after the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl. He is now serving a sentence for sexual harassment and abuse.
According to data provided by Bloomberg Businessweek, since 2018 the American police have arrested no less than two dozen peopleaccused of kidnapping or abusing children they had met using the massive online multiplayer. The article details that ‘Roblox’ leaks 50,000 text messages per second. Although much of the work is done by artificial intelligence, this system relies on 3,000 moderatorswho are real employees of the company. Some of them claim that they are able to deal with hundreds of complaints related to user security on a daily basis, but that from the study Growth is prioritized over security.
Roblox Corporation has something to say:
Shortly after the report was published, Roblox Corporation’s head of security, Matt Kaufman, issued a statement to specialist media Eurogamer, in which he defended himself in the following terms:
“A recent article contained blatant mischaracterizations about how we protect users of all ages on the platform and failed to reflect the complexities of child online safety and the realities of the overwhelmingly positive experiences tens of millions of people of all ages have on Roblox every day.”
Kaufman then says that the platform is preparing measures to reinforce the security of its users, especially among those who constitute its largest audience: children. In any case, this situation is not new within the company and there are several associations that have sued the platform alleging, for example, that it induces minors to make large economic investments or complaints related to child abuse, where it is justified as using children as labor to unconsciously grow the ecosystem.