Roblox Reports More Than 13,000 Cases of Child Exploitation Last Year, Labels Bloomberg Report as Filled With “Significant Distortions”

Even though Roblox often finds itself embroiled in controversy, connected to matters like claims of minor participation in managed content generation, security issues or even straightforward tax evasion, it continues to be a mainstay in the gaming content creation world. It’s not surprising considering its scale, which involves dealing with about 70 million daily users – 40% of whom are underaged – and over 50K chats every second, a task that could overwhelm anyone.

However, being a large platform aspiring for growth doesn’t justify inadequate safety measures. A recent podcast episode at Bloomberg (link to the pertinent segment of the transcript) features reporters Olivia Carville and Cecilia D’Anastasio discussing with the host David Gura about possible deficiencies in Roblox’s child protection mechanisms. They quote former and current employees alleging that until 2022, the company didn’t have solid automated processes to detect early signs of child grooming. They even claimed that till then, the term “grooming” didn’t feature in the team’s moderation manual.

On the topic, the hosts specifically discussing the 2022 case of “Dr. Rofatnik,” the creator of “Sonic Eclipse Online” – a well-known Sonic imitation on Roblox. Dr. Rofatnik, whose real name is Arnold Castillo, was incarcerated, pled guilty, then sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for grooming a minor from Indiana online, transporting her to New Jersey via Uber, and sexual assault. Castillo, who was banned from Roblox prior to the arrest, managed to use alternate accounts to re-access the platform and even logged in on the day of his apprehension.

The Bloomberg tape stipulates that Roblox is not doing enough to safeguard its users despite disclosing over 13K instances of child misuse on the platform to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is an increase from 3,000 reports in 2022. According to them, Roblox favors its expansion over safety.

In a blog publication and a statement relayed to Eurogamer, Roblox disputes these claims, underlining the low incidence of issues, considering the vastness of its active users. They argue that the Bloomberg report bore “glaring misrepresentations about our safety practices for our users of all ages. The report also failed to appropriately articulate the intricacies of online child safety and the predominantly positive experiences that several millions of people have on Roblox daily.”

Roblox’s chief safety officer, Matt Kaufman, in the blog, further emphasized, “We are committed to user safety and will continue to diligently keep our users secure and ward off malevolent users who might try to evade our security features. Also, we accept that this crucial task is unending.”