Turkey Prohibits Roblox, Receives Response Over Child Safety

This week, Roblox was prohibited in Türkiye, a decision that was publicly announced on various social media channels. As reported by Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç in a tweet, the game platform and its available links in the app stores were blocked by the Adana Sixth Criminal Court of Peace, based on the “Law on Regulation of Publications Made in the Internet Environment and Combating Crimes Committed by Means of Such Publications”.

Considering Roblox’s reputation as a child-focused game, and its frequent controversies involving children – such as its alleged engagement of minors in content creation – the decision was presumably taken to safeguard the children. The Bloomberg reported last month, according to which Roblox reported over 13,000 cases of child exploitation in 2023, has likely influenced this decision.

In an article published in Türkiye Today, several problems that influenced the decision were pointed out, including allegations of the existence of virtual parties on Roblox endorsing pedophilia, and the bot-driven distribution of Robux, the platform’s virtual currency, to motivate children to get involved in these activities.

Roblox Corporation, however, has refuted these allegations. In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, the company said that it has “a variety of features designed explicitly for child protection.” The statement also mentioned that the company had “invested in developing mechanisms that would allow parents to monitor their children’s activities.” Additionally, Roblox aspires to cooperate with Türkiye to reinstate the game there.