Turkey’s Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Thursday that it had blocked access to the children’s online video game Roblox due to concerns it could lead to child abuse.
Critics of the game in the United States have made similar claims.
“According to our constitution, our country is obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of children. It is the duty of everyone to look after, protect and support the best interests of children,” Tunci said. said In a Twitter post.
“Turkey is closely following global trends and is one of the countries using technology in the best way. However, using technology negatively is never acceptable,” he said.
“Attempts to undermine our social fabric, child abuse, the promotion of violence and activities that negatively impact the development of our children, each of whom is a precious gift, will never be tolerated,” he declared.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunku (Rasit Aydogan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Tunc did not specify what Roblox allegedly did to endanger Turkish children. Roblox is an online platform created in 2006 where users can play a variety of video games. Its graphics are often drawn in an intentionally blocky and colorful style. Advanced users can use its tools to create their own games.
Versions of Roblox are available for Droid and iPad tablets, as well as Windows and Apple computers, and Xbox and PlayStation gaming systems.
Although the platform is popular with younger users, it’s not just kids who use it. Over 70 million people It has 10 million daily active users and nearly 300 million intermittent monthly users. Children under 18 require parental consent to register an account, and the system has parental control settings.
Turkey would suddenly decide that Roblox is not good for kids because Roblox has a strong social media component in addition to gaming. Turkey’s authoritarian Islamic leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said: Strong criticism In August, he filed a lawsuit against social media companies for blocking messages of condolence to Hamas terror mastermind Ismail Haniyeh.
We are facing a digital fascism that is ruthless and immediately bans even photos of Palestinian martyrs, that is doing everything it can to cover up Israeli atrocities and silence the Palestinian voice, with social media companies in particular literally becoming combatants.
Erdogan’s government is furious Banned The social media platform Instagram was shut down in August for somehow violating Turkey’s “legal rules and public sensitivities,” though the actual reason was likely because Instagram did not allow posts in support of Hamas or Haniyeh.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Turkish Communications Authority official Claimed The main reasons for Roblox’s ban were “reports of child exploitative sexual content” and the suspected infiltration of “pedophiles” into its “Virtual Party,” a social media chatroom where participants communicate through avatars.
The Turkish Communications Authority also criticized Roblox for its use of a type of virtual currency called “Robaks.” Turkey said some of the activities involving Robax amounted to virtual gambling that preyed on children. Robax was also allegedly used to lure children into “problematic activities.”
Roblox spoke out against the Turkey ban, emphasizing its commitment to “keeping our community safe.”
“We’ve spent nearly two decades making Roblox one of the safest online platforms for our users, especially young users, and keeping them safe is at the core of everything we do,” the company said. said in statement Thursday:
Every day, tens of millions of people of all ages have a safe and positive experience on Roblox while adhering to our Community Standards — policies that cover everything from vulgar language to advertising — and we spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year keeping our platform safe.
“We meet regularly with policymakers to engage in important dialogue on issues affecting young people, and we look forward to these discussions in Turkey with the important goal of getting Roblox users back online as soon as possible,” the statement concluded.
Roblox spokesperson repetition The company told gaming website Eurogamer on Thursday that it has dedicated nearly two decades of effort to “making Roblox one of the safest online platforms for users, especially young users.”
Roblox website on a laptop (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Roblox has been controversial among its younger users. Accused A few years ago, the company “squeezed” young designers who were creating games using the tools built into the platform, barely paying them for their efforts.
Essentially, the platform makes it difficult for young amateur designers to gain mass public attention, and developers must earn large amounts of Robux game virtual currency before they can convert it into real-world cash.
July, Bloomberg News Published One Report Roblox has struggled to stop predators using the platform’s social media tools to contact children, with Bloomberg pointing to records showing US police have “arrested at least two dozen people on charges of kidnapping or abusing victims they met or lured using Roblox.”
These predators weren’t just lurking outside the world’s largest virtual playground — they were hanging out on the jungle gyms, luring kids with Robux to send them photos and build relationships that would migrate to other online platforms and eventually go offline.
Some of these inappropriate relationships escalated into serious crimes, such as attempted kidnapping.
Bloomberg reported that Roblox staff were overwhelmed with the task of filtering abusive and predatory communication from the millions of messages that pass through the system every day, prompting some users to form online vigilante groups.
Several child safety advocates reportedly said Roblox’s huge user base, combination of social media interaction and a wide variety of games make it one of the most dangerous platforms for children.
“Parents are letting their kids play Roblox because they think it’s a cute kids’ game, without any understanding of what’s really going on,” said Kira Pendergast, CEO of child safety group Safe on Social Media. “If I could wipe one app off the face of the earth right now, it would be Roblox.”
