LONDON

Child safety advocates are urging the UK communications watchdog to take stronger action in enforcing new online safety regulations, following claims that the popular gaming platform Roblox has become a haven for child exploitation. 

According to The Guardian on Tuesday, the calls come after a US-based investment firm accused the platform of failing to protect its young users from grooming, pornography, and other harmful content.

Roblox, which boasts 80 million daily users, has been at the center of controversy after Hindenburg Research released a scathing report last week.

The firm, known for its financial investments and its current short position in Roblox’s stock, claimed that the platform’s safety controls were dangerously lax.

It alleged that Roblox exposed children to a wide array of disturbing content, including sexually explicit material, violent imagery, and abusive speech. Hindenburg went as far as to describe Roblox as an "X-rated paedophile hellscape."

In their report, the firm highlighted the presence of multiple user accounts that referenced convicted child abusers such as Jeffrey Epstein.

Hindenburg said it was able to create an account under the name of a notorious American pedophile, further exposing vulnerabilities in Roblox's safety measures.

"We found Roblox to be an X-rated paedophile hellscape, replete with users attempting to groom our avatars, groups openly trading child pornography, widely accessible sex games, violent content and extremely abusive speech – all of which is open to young children," the firm claimed.

The gaming company has vehemently denied these accusations, asserting that user safety is "foundational" to its platform.

In a statement, Roblox stressed that the majority of its users, including millions of children, have positive and safe experiences on the platform every day.

"Every day, tens of millions of users of all ages have safe and positive experiences on Roblox and abide by the company’s community standards. However, any safety incident is horrible. We take any content or behavior on the platform that doesn’t abide by our standards extremely seriously," said a spokesperson for the company.

Roblox also stated that it had already taken action on much of the content mentioned in the Hindenburg report.

The company highlighted measures such as text chat filters designed to block inappropriate language and its ban on user-to-user image sharing as part of its broader efforts to combat harmful activity.

"We continuously evolve and enhance our safety approach to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity," the company added.

Despite Roblox’s efforts, concerns remain, particularly given the platform’s demographic. One in five Roblox users is under the age of nine, and the majority of its users are under 16.

While the platform does offer parental controls and advertises age recommendations for certain games or "experiences," there is no official age limit for users, raising fears about the adequacy of the safety protocols in place.

Campaigners are now urging the UK’s communication regulator, Ofcom, to step up its oversight of online platforms like Roblox, in light of the new regulations introduced under the Online Safety Bill.