One big trend around gaming platform Roblox is its growing number of music activations, as artists and labels flock to the service to reach its audience of 111.8 million daily active users.
However, another just-as-big trend are the persistent questions around child safety issues for the younger end of that user base. Those questions are blowing up again this week.
Why? Two new lawsuits, including one from Louisiana’s attorney general Liz Murrill, who accused Roblox of a “lack of safety protocols” and of being “overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety”.
Bloomberg noted that in the last two weeks “seven complaints have been filed against the company… all over child predator issues”. Roblox’s share price dropped by 6.8% on Friday amid all this news.
The company published a statement in response to Murrill’s lawsuit, saying that “any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue”.
“No system is perfect and bad actors adapt to evade detection, including efforts to take users to other platforms, where safety standards and moderation practices may differ. We continuously work to block those efforts and to enhance our moderation approaches to promote a safe and enjoyable environment for all users,” it continued.
The post listed some of its recently-added features and policies to protect children; pointed out that 64% of its user base is now 13 or older; and claimed that “the platform has rigorous safety features built in, and its policies are purposely stricter than those found on social networks and other user-generated content platforms”.
(The same day, Roblox also published a ‘clarification’ of its policies on romantic and sexual content, including forcing all currently ‘unrated’ experiences to apply for age ratings, and restricting ‘social hangouts’ to people who are ID-verified as being 17 or older.)
As a platform open to all ages including (based on its figures above) more than 40 million under-13s, Roblox is always going to be a target for predators. If it doesn’t tackle that challenge well enough, it risks becoming a toxic brand for parents and brands alike, and a target for regulators.
What does all this mean for the musicians and music companies launching Roblox experiences and running marketing campaigns within its popular games?
Previous controversies – last year’s report accusing Roblox of being a “pedophile hellscape for kids” most notoriously – haven’t seemed to dent its appeal to the music industry, but that can’t be taken for granted if they continue.
In the meantime, it should send moderation and safety right to the top of the list of must-dos when launching a new Roblox experience or updating an existing one – particularly for pop artists with sizeable Gen-Alpha fanbases.
Article Credit: musically