Roblox CEO and co-founder Dave Baszucki has told parents to keep their children off the popular game platform if they have safety concerns.
Speaking to BBC News about the platform’s widely-reported issues with safeguarding and protecting younger players, Baszucki said the company is vigilant when it comes to addressing instances of bad behaviour but that parents should keep their children away from Roblox if they have major fears.
“My first message would be, if you’re not comfortable, don’t let your kids be on Roblox,” he told the BBC. “That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions.”
Roblox boasted 68.4 million daily active users in 2023. The company explained 21 percent of those users were aged 9 or under. 21 percent were between 9 and 12 years old, while 16 percent were aged between 13 and 16.
That means 58 percent of Roblox’s annual player base in 2023 was aged 16 or under.
Roblox has repeatedly come under fire over a perceived lack of protections for those younger players. In October 2024, the company rejected a report published by research firm Hindenburg that accused it of lying about player metrics and downplaying child safety issues.
Months earlier, Bloomberg reported on Roblox’s “pedophile problem” after speaking with 20 current and former employees who claimed the company was struggling to effectively curb predatory behaviour.
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Shortly after those reports were published, Roblox rolled out new child safety protocols—including more robust parental controls—to limit access to certain age-gated experiences and prevent users under the age of 13 from communicating via platform chat.
In its latest fiscal report, Roblox said “trust and safety” remains a priority and noted it rolled out 40 safety products and policies in 2024 to provide caregivers and parents with “control and clarity.” It intends to implement additional safety features in 2025.
The BBC, however, claims it was able to bypass some safety controls to exchange messages between two fake accounts (aged 15 and 27, respectively) and suggest moving the conversation to another platform and playing more adult games.
The publication explained Roblox’s filters initially flagged some of those exchanges, but that it found ways to reword those requests to escape detection.
Baszucki felt the above incident highlighted how Roblox’s safety measures actually work to protect children—largely because the BBC had to suggest engaging in prohibited behavior off-platform.
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You can hear more from Baszucki by checking out the full report on the BBC website.