Turkey blocks Roblox due to child safety concerns

videogameschronicle.com:

Turkey has blocked access to Roblox, and any associated applications.

“Access to the game platform named Roblox and its links in the application markets has been blocked by the Adana 6th Criminal Court of Peace,” wrote Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç in astatement on X regarding the ban.

The decision was made following findings “within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office due to the content that could lead to the exploitation of children.”

“Attempts to undermine our social structure, abuse of children, encouragement of violence, and activities that will negatively affect the development of our children, each of whom is a precious gift, will never be allowed,” Tunç’s statement reads.

Responding to the ban, Roblox said :”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.”

According to a Bloomberg report published last month, Roblox reported over 13,000 incidents of child exploitation in 2023.

The report, which Bloomberg claims shines a light on the platform’s “predator problem”, reveals that in 2022, Roblox reported almost 3,000 incidents of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a figure which jumped to over 13,000 last year.

While Roblox has been enhancing its child safety measures in recent years, a number of current and former employees claimed that the company is prioritizing growth over the well-being of its users.

In a statement issued to VGC last month, a Roblox spokesperson claimed: “A recent article contained glaring mischaracterisations about how we protect users of all ages on the platform and failed to reflect both the complexities of online child safety and the realities of the overwhelmingly positive experiences that tens of millions of people of all ages have on Roblox every single day.”