Roblox has been banned by the Turkish government due to child safety concerns

rockpapershotgun.com:

Roblox has been banned in Turkey, with a government agency citing concerns over "child exploitation."

The decision to ban all access to the game and platform was taken by the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), who also blocked access to Instagram in the country earlier this week.

The ban was announced by the Turkish Minster of Justice via X. "According to our Constitution, our State is obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of our children," said the statement, which is otherwise light on detail.

Turkey Today reports that the government has four key concerns which led to the ban: the sexual exploitation of children, "rampant" reports of pedophilia, children being incentivised to play Roblox via the virtual currency Robux, and the "inability to effectively monitor and regulate inapproriate content" on the platform.

Last month, Bloomberg published an investigation into Roblox's "pedophile problem".

"We've spent almost 20 years making Roblox one of the safest online platforms for our users, particularly the youngest, and ensuring the safety of our users is at the core of everything we do," said a Roblox spokesperson in a response to the ban shared with Eurogamer.

"We respect the laws and regulations in countries where we operate and share local lawmakers' commitment to children. We look forward to working together to ensure Roblox is back online in Türkiye as soon as possible."

Roblox has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, both for child safety reasons and the manner in which its creators profit from the labour of children.

"Like, you can say, 'Okay, we are exploiting, you know, child labour,' right? Or, you can say: we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job, and even like an income," said Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza at GDC earlier this year. "So, I can be like 15 years old, in Indonesia, living in a slum, and then now, with just a laptop, I can create