Russian media finally admits Putin is under fire from angry citizens, but it’s for the recent Roblox ban — Kremlin says kids have written 63,000 complaint letters, half said they wanted to leave Russia due to the ban

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Russia’s children are speaking out, demanding a voice, saying the government has gone too far. A state representative admitted that 63,000 letters of complaint had been received in one week, half of them from angry young people threatening to leave Russia. What’s all the fuss about? Is this related to the ongoing war or sanctions? No, this is a backlash against a ban on the Roblox gaming platform, reports The Moscow Times .

The ban was “for your own protection”

Russian state media said the Roblox ban was imposed to prevent the platform from distributing extremist material and promoting “LGBT propaganda.” Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor asserted that the Californian company’s games are filled with “inappropriate content that may have a negative impact on children’s mental and moral development,” according to a statement seen by The Moscow Times.

More specific and concerning for parents around the world are Russian regulators’ assertions that children playing Roblox could be sexually harassed, tricked into taking intimate photos, or even “forced to commit depraved behavior and violence.”

Indeed, this is a concern for parents of all open online platforms frequented by teenagers. As a result, the company Roblox claims it has implemented “moderators and automated systems to proactively identify behavior that may violate our policies.”

Leaving Russia for the love of Roblox

Two top figures in the Russian government acknowledged that the country’s children complained loudly about the Roblox ban. Putin’s prominent press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Kremlin had received “many” letters from children about the ban imposed on December 3.

Yekateina Mizulina, a pro-Kremlin censorship advocate, also told her Telegram followers that she had received 63,000 letters from children aged 8 to 16 about the ban. According to Mizulina, half of them said they wanted to leave Russia due to the Roblox block.

As of 2023, Roblox remains the most downloaded game in Russia. It’s extremely popular with kids, with 111.8 million daily users, according to the latest monthly metrics we’ve seen. About 40% of Roblox players are 13 years old or younger.

Russian clubs blocked

It’s perhaps no surprise that Roblox, the latest Western platform with social media elements, has been blocked in Russia. For example, you can’t use Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X or LinkedIn there either.

Meanwhile, YouTube was moderated and disrupted, replaced by the state-backed RuTube. (Is RuBlox coming soon?) Russia’s domestic VK social network, the most widely used there, is heavily regulated and features automatic content filtering based on Roskomnadzor’s blacklist.

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