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She even met her current boyfriend through the platform – though she admits she doesn’t feel completely safe on Roblox.
She also claims the site has now moved towards encouraging users to “date”.
“The game has changed so much,” says Holly. “I personally don’t find it as interesting and exciting anymore, and I don’t think it’s a safe game.”
Parental monitoring
While some children have come out of their shells and formed close friendships on the platform, others have bonded with their parents or been educated through its games.
But at what risk do these experiences come?
One mum, who plays Roblox to monitor her kids’ activity, claimed this month that she’d encountered “disturbing things” after entering a house in a game about adopting animals.
She described how a naked man lying on his back was telling children to “sit on it” to receive a free pet, while a shocking message on the building’s wall read: “im a child predotor (sic).”
hindenburgresearch.comResearch uncovered multiple users with ‘Jeff Epstein’ in their names[/caption]
SuppliedGames also included reference to Epstein[/caption]
hindenburgresearch.comOther vile games referred to the sex abuse claims made against P Diddy[/caption]
Mum Kate, 43, also plays Roblox after seeing how much her daughter Phoebe loves it.
She told The Sun that Phoebe was eight when she began playing the game.
At first, Kate’s husband John, 44, logged into Phoebe’s account to monitor her activity.
“We had to have a conversation about not accepting friend requests from people you don’t know because she had 50 friends and I was like, ‘Who are these people?’” said Kate.
“So, we got rid of all of those.”
But in recent weeks, both Kate and John have downloaded Roblox themselves.
“Phoebe was so excited when we both downloaded Roblox,” said Kate, co-founder of the ecommerce brand, A Year of Dates. “She genuinely seemed really pleased we’d done it.”
The family, from Bolton, now regularly play Roblox together on evenings and Kate says: “The games that [Phoebe] plays are mainly the role-play ones, where you’re walking around a town, and you can buy a house, and you can change your outfit.”
Kate and Phoebe also play Dress to Impress together – a wildly popular game, released in 2023, that has come under fire over claims of “sexually explicit” and offensive clothing.
While Kate has not seen anything to support these claims, she admitted: “They’re not outfits that I would be choosing.” She has, however, encountered explicit content in another game.
Roblox players were repotedly able to play games that involved the killing of pregnant women
South Wales PolicePaedo Owain Thomas paid a 10-year old boy with Robux to perform a sex act over a webcam[/caption]
Paedo contacts
Phoebe – whose “adoption” by an unknown man in the pet adoption game, Adopt Me!, alarmed Kate – now tends to play games on a private server, with only her friends.
These private servers can be purchased with Robux, the site’s virtual currency. Robux can also be used to deck out avatars in outfits, and to gain access to premium games.
In 2019, it was reported that a perverted law graduate in Wales had paid a 10-year-old boy 400 Robux to perform a sexual act while he watched his victim on a webcam.
Paedophile Owain Thomas, 29, was caged for 10 years after inciting more than 140 children – 60, aged under 13 – to carry out sexual acts on camera, according to Wales Online.
He had contacted his victims using online gaming platforms like Roblox.
They knew her name, her school and the town she lives in
Mum of daughter targeted by paedo
In another vile case linked to the platform, a 10-year-old girl was raped in woodland by a man who had groomed her over Roblox and the messaging app, Snapchat.
Ryan Sutton, 24, was jailed in December after travelling 100 miles from Worcestershire to Finedon, Northamptonshire, to attack the primary school-aged girl, the Daily Mail reported.
Police said Sutton – who showed “no remorse” when arrested and interviewed – had groomed the vulnerable youngster into believing they were in “a legitimate relationship”.
Meanwhile, in America, a woman was recently accused of using Roblox to instruct a 10-year-old to kill a two-month-old baby and slit the throats of the infant’s temporary guardians.
Tara Sykes allegedly used the game’s chat function to order the child to torture and murder the baby – who miraculously survived – citing methods like drowning, burning and dropping the child on the floor.
It comes as Roblox has this month introduced new safety features that will allow parents to block their children from specific games and experiences.
Parents will also be able to block or report their children’s friends on the platform, and learn more about which experiences their children are playing the most.
Northamptonshire PoliceRyan Sutton groomed a girl over Roblux before raping her in a woodland[/caption]
Escambia County Sheriff’s OfficeSicko Tara Sykes encouraged a 10-year-old on Roblox to torture and murder a baby[/caption]
“For almost 20 years, Roblox has grown and innovated with safety at its core. These tools, features and innovations reflect our mission to make Roblox the safest and most civil online platform in the world,” said Roblox’s Chief Safety Officer, Matt Kaufman.
In his recent BBC interview, Roblox’s chief executive said: “We do, in the company, take the attitude that any bad – even one bad incident – is one too many.”
Mr Baszucki added: “We watch for bullying, we watch for harassment, we filter all of those kinds of things and I would say, behind the scenes, the analysis goes on all the way to, if necessary, reaching out to law enforcement.”
Violent games
Despite Mr Baszucki’s comments, the BBC claimed it was able to bypass some safety filters on the site, which boasts 380million monthly active users and is worth a staggering $41billion (£31billion).
And just this month, a British mum claimed on social media that a “random person” on Roblox had asked her daughter to meet them at her school.
“They knew her name, her school and the town she lives in,” shared the woman.
The UK’s Online Safety Act requires platforms to take action against illegal content such as child sexual abuse and controlling behaviour.
We attempted to set up an account under the name Jeffrey Epstein… only to see the name was taken, along with 900+ variations
Companies face fines of up to £18million, or ten per cent of their qualifying global revenue, for non-compliance.
Last year, a report by a now-disbanded US investment firm branded Roblox “an X-rated paedophile hellscape” that exposed kids to “grooming, pornography” and “violent content”.
The document added: “As a test, we attempted to set up an account under the name Jeffrey Epstein… only to see the name was taken, along with 900+ variations.”
Screenshots of Roblox games, shared in the report, show racist messages, threats to kill babies “with a knife”, and avatars carrying out shooting rampages at hospitals.
Roblox – which soared in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, when youngsters were stuck at home with little to do – “totally” rejected the allegations made in the report.
Neuroscientist and founder of TAK Index, Dr Huriye Atilgan, who leads a multi-disciplinary team to evaluate the safety and developmental impact of children’s games, told The Sun that no platform is “completely safe”.
Some games in Roblox have been found that let users ‘shoot-up’ hospitals
“When you’re engaging with user-generated content and entering voice chat with strangers, it’s entirely possible that you’ll be exposed to inappropriate content, whether that’s sexually explicit scenes, bullying, or racist and homophobic messages,” said Dr Atilgan.
“Parents need to be proactive here. First, set up parental controls. Talking to your children is just as important. Ask what they’re playing, who they’re talking to and if anything has made them uncomfortable.
“The more open the conversation, the more likely they are to tell you if they see something inappropriate.”
She added: “It’s also worth playing Roblox yourself. Understanding how it works makes it easier to spot risks and guide your child on safe gaming habits.”
Kate agrees that concerned parents should play Roblox themselves.
“Look at what [your children] are playing, talk to them about it, get them to show you what they’re playing, even play it with them if you can,” she said.