editor’s Note: This article has an image and an image of the abusive language found on the Roblox server and can trigger some readers.
In Roblox, one of the world’s largest online gaming platforms, users include to play, make and create themselves in a virtual world – but some more insidious may be for the purpose: to highlight the youth to hate speech to the youth.
“spray paint!” – With more than one billion trips, a popular game on Roblox, in which players create frescoes in the skate and a virtual skatepark setting – can bypass the moderation by spray painting hate messages in walls, ramps and other virtual game settings, a CBS news check.
CBS News documented dozens of swastika and at least a dozen examples of hate speech targeting minority groups in spray paint! Server, who host the multiplayer games. There are millions of games on Roblox where players can join the server to play with friends and strangers.
“spray paint!” Not uncommon – nor is it surprising. Roblox currently has at least 18 active cases which are pending across the country due to unfair materials found in their sports, the Attorney Matthew Doleman, whose firm is representing individuals in cases against Roblox, told CBS News.
Roblox said in an email statement to CBS News that its 24/7 moderation system closely monitors the platform, and that the company “takes Swift action against users found in violation of any material or users.”
However, hate speech still appears in Roblox Games, such as spray paint, CBS News. “Within three minutes of arriving there for the first time, I also saw a swastika,” Rachel Franz said, Manager, director of the childhood program, said Rachel Franz. Non -profit fairplayWhich advocates online safety of children.
Hate can run extensively in various Roblox Games. A group that is called an active shooter studio School shooting was rebuilt Columbin, Uwlde and Parkland develop more consistent entertainment efforts, Anti-Defense League found in April Reporttrial Filed this month It is alleged that Roblox hosted hundreds of scenes “Didi” Combes-Theme Games, as well as over 900 user accounts in Robox, which was with variety as the name of the guilty sexual criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
“Robox fully knows that these experiences spread their apps, and this allows them to be uncontrolled despite the ability to control or eliminate them,” the case is accused, and said that the impact on children could be destructive.
Last week, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Muril filed a child protection case against the stage.
“Robox has grown with harmful materials and child predators, allegedly a Republican, a Republican, A Republican, A Republican, as it preferred the user’s growth, revenue and profits on child safety.” Press release“Every parents should know about the clear and current danger for their children by Robox so that they can prevent them from being unimaginable anytime in their home.”
In a statement by CBS News, Robox said, “We share the urgency of Attorney General Muril to help children protect because security has always been our priority,” saying that it is ready to work with Muril to help protect children.
“We share the seriously important targets of keeping children safe online and any claim is otherwise clearly untrue,” the ROBLOX statement said. “We hold ourselves to the highest standard and work continuously to remove violated materials and bad actors.”
What children are facing
Encourages can troll Roblox, and other similar gaming platforms, to recruit for young players Extremist group Or possibly sexually abuse.
Children and teenagers make more than half of Robox players, and about 40% of the players are under 13, According 2024 US Securities and Exchange Commission for filing. Roblox an average attracts 97.8 million daily active users.
“If you are a hunter, it is very clear that there are opportunities to reach the weak people on these platforms,” Franz said.
When children play spray paint! The game, they can see black and Jewish people targeting and digging phrases such as “KKK” and “Jews” in graffiti on virtual brick walls. In a server, there were more than 14 examples of this speech, found CBS News, as well as a reference to “Third Reach”.
The phrase “I can’t breathe,” The words spoken by George Floid, who died in police custody in 2020, later wrote on a virtual brick wall in a server by an officer guilty of murder. Some servers had graphic sexual paintings, and in the other, there was an example of suicide language, found CBS News.
CBS News 
Roblox’s chat feature is available in some games, a filtering system that prevents inappropriate material, such as discriminatory speech, being visible, but in spray paint! Players can bypass the filtering mechanism by scrolling the text through the paint feature of the game opposite to writing in chat, where the material is filtered.
Users will have to enter their birthday when creating Roblox account, but the platform does not require certification, which means that adults can pose because children and children can actually be as big as possible. Children can interact with other players through voice chat feature – the minimum age requires 13 – but also no age verification.
Roblox states that the company has implemented that it says “reliable Flagger Program”, where reliable partners can report “terrorist materials” in an attempt to create a rift on hate messages.
Roblox too They say The content uploaded to join your website is evaluated in a multi-phase review process to screen for hair sexual abuse material and other unfair materials. If it is identified as fodder for potential hair sexual abuse, Robox says that it automatically informs the National Center for Missing and Explode Children, a non -profit organization that focuses on finding missing children and reducing the child’s exploitation.
Roblox is advanced An artificial intelligence system that the company says that NCMEC was helped submit 1,200 reports of possible efforts in child abuse – and last year, Roblox presented 24,522 reports to NCMEC.
Roblox says it has a human reviewing team that constantly evaluates the game with flags and encourages users to report activity related to activity. spray paint! Players have the option to play in “safe mode”, which only allows them to see the art created by other players that are on their “friends” list in the app.
A Roblox spokesperson in an email statement told CBS News that “while no system is correct,” the company implemented safety measures, including “personal information, links and user-to-user image sharing, as well as material maturity. [l]Abels and ancestral control. ,
The statement said, “We share seriously important goals with our community to keep everyone safe online and ensure that users have positive experiences on Roblox that align with our strict community standards,” We say, “We constantly innovate to stop evil actors and have launched more than 50 security facilities since last year.
Despite efforts to curb the extremism and the targeting of young players, experts and CBS News found that security is easy to override.
Franz said, “There is a big question of how you regulate and moderate something that is considered to encourage creativity and freedom of expression, but something really really starts unprotected and really harmful and disgusting practices.”
Dreaded sword
In many cases allegations suggest that Roblox has also been used to exploit teenagers and children. Was a florida teenager Arrested To target children on Robox in April, where he will demand child sexual abuse materials on text messages or messaging platform discords. In Texas, A trial Filed in April alleged that a 13 -year -old girl was worked on Robox and later, and sexually abused. Roblox has recently hit a thing of cases with similar claims. Dolman said that he currently has seven cases in the firm and he is investigating 400 more. Another firm Filed A lawsuit against Roblox and discord represents more than 400 people earlier this month.
A man in California Arrested In April, in relation to a 10 -year -old child on allegations of kidnapping and sexual misconduct, he is believed to be found through Robox. Last year, a woman in Florida Arrested Allegedly instruct a 10 -year -old baby to kill a baby on a tile floor to use a baby on a tile floor. The baby was seriously injured.
Asked for the response of cases, Roblox said in an email that the company is “deeply disturbed” from any event that endangers its users, given that security is a top priority.
“Roblox is committed to empower parents and carers to help ensure a safe online experience for your children.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthameyer announced in April that he released A Shape To Roblox.
He said, “This is related to such reports that this gaming platform, which is popular among children, is exposing them to harmful materials and bad actors,” he said in a press release. “We are releasing a sabbon for Roblox to find out how this platform is marketing for children and to see what policies they are applying – if anyone – to avoid interaction with predators.”
Open-world game like spray paint! Doris Chang, A Psychologist And in the Silver School of Social Work at New York University, Associate Professor says that these vacancies can confirm for quir youth.
Chang said, “Whatever they want. Gender liquidity is actually common.”
“You are just interacting with people with whom you will not interact normally. It is completely open,” Chang said.
Chang said that when children play a game like spray paint! Without the care of the parents, they may have to navigate problematic scenarios that may be confused or upset.
“This raises a big question about how much parents know that their children are coming in contact with online,” he said. “Broadly, Roblox is just a corner of the Internet that our children are navigating.”
