Is Roblox Safe for Kids? What Every Parent Should Know

Twitter

Roblox is one of the most widely used online gaming platforms among children, with over 85 million daily active users as of early 2025 (Wikipedia, 2025). Known for its colourful, block-style graphics and vast catalogue of user-generated content, Roblox allows players to explore millions of virtual worlds and interact with others in real time. The company claims that nearly half of all American children under the age of 16 use the platform monthly (The Verge, 2020).

Why Kids Love Roblox

The extensive library of user-created games—called "experiences"—in Roblox, spanning genres from obstacle courses and simulators to immersive role-playing adventures, especially draws in children. These games are often free and frequently reference pop culture themes, increasing their appeal. Players can customise their avatars and engage with others through chat and group gameplay. The platform’s accessibility across mobile devices, tablets, PCs, and gaming consoles contributes to its widespread popularity (Common Sense Media, 2024).

The Hidden Dangers of Roblox

Roblox's kid-friendly appearance hasn't stopped critics from pointing out its exposure of children to online predators, sexually explicit content, and insufficient moderation. The very features that make Roblox engaging also create opportunities for misuse and exploitation.

Predators and Grooming

Officer David Gomez, a school safety officer with firsthand experience in digital crimes, warns that online predators routinely use the Roblox’s chat feature to initiate contact with young users. He has personally arrested adults in their 30s who operated multiple Roblox accounts specifically to target children on the platform under the age of 10. According to Gomez, many parents are unaware of how easily predators can access their children through these in-game communications.

A significant concern involves the ease with which online predators can exploit Roblox’s open chat and multiplayer functions to start contact with children. These individuals often pose as fellow players, using avatars and friendly conversation to build rapport. According to Bark (2024), grooming frequently begins with harmless interactions or digital gifts such as Robux (in-game currency) or rare virtual items. Over time, these conversations may escalate to secret-keeping, requests for personal information, or attempts to move communication to less-moderated platforms like Discord or Snapchat.

Bloomberg (2024) reported that predators have used Robux as a lure in grooming attempts. In one high-profile case reported by ABC7 News (2025), a young girl was abducted after being groomed through Roblox and Discord, prompting a lawsuit against both platforms (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 2025).

Inappropriate Content and Condo Games

Roblox continues to battle the presence of "condo games," which simulate sexually explicit interactions using avatars. Despite built-in filters, users regularly circumvent moderation and upload inappropriate content such as graphic games, explicit audio, and offensive language (Fast Company, 2020). Though the platform actively removes such content, it often resurfaces under different names. Roblox has not restricted repeat offenders from its game.

Under-Moderation and Oversight Issues

Officer Gomez also points out the frequent connection between Roblox and emergency calls from parents, especially where parents have limited their children's access to the game. He notes that Roblox and Fortnite are the two platforms most cited in 911 calls involving behavioural incidents. Interrupted gameplay often leads children to cause property damage or make threats of violence, highlighting the intense emotional attachment some children develop towards these games.

With only 3,000 human moderators overseeing content for over 78 million users, Roblox faces a severe imbalance between user activity and moderation capacity. Thorn and NCMEC experts caution that because grooming is subtle and progressive, detection is difficult until significant harm—for example, sharing explicit photos of the child or luring the child into unsafe offline contact—has occurred. In 2023 alone, Roblox reported over 13,000 suspected child exploitation incidents to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (Games Industry, 2024).

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (2024) included Roblox on its Dirty Dozen List — a report that identifies companies or entities that profit from or facilitate sexual exploitation. The organisation warned of the platform’s insufficient safeguards against sexual exploitation. A 2025 investigation by UK researchers also labelled the risks facing children on Roblox as “deeply disturbing”. The research found that despite new safety controls introduced in 2024, children can still access inappropriate content and communicate unsupervised with adults. Researchers, using test accounts registered to fictitious users including children, easily found sexually suggestive material, overheard explicit conversations, and observed adults approaching in veiled predatory manners (The Guardian, 2025).

Hindenburg Research Report: A Wake-Up Call

In October 2024, Hindenburg Research published a report on Roblox, titled "Roblox: Inflated Key Metrics For Wall Street And A Pedophile Hellscape For Kids," presenting serious allegations concerning both the company's financial reporting and user safety practices. The report accuses Roblox of overstating user engagement metrics and failing to protect its predominantly young user base from harmful content and predatory behaviour.

The Hindenburg report alleges that Roblox inflates its daily active user (DAU) figures by including multiple accounts operated by single users and automated bots. The report suggests that the actual number of unique users is 25% to 42% lower than that reported. Furthermore, engagement hours are purportedly exaggerated by over 100%, with instances of bot accounts remaining active in games for extended periods, thereby skewing average user engagement statistics. Interviews with former Roblox employees reveal that the company internally tracks and consolidates multiple accounts belonging to single users—a process called "de-alting." However, the company allegedly does not report this consolidated data to investors, potentially misrepresenting user engagement.

The report highlights alarming concerns about child safety on the platform. According to the Hindenburg report, Roblox exposes children to grooming, sexually explicit content, and abusive behaviour. The investigation uncovered games with inappropriate themes and instances where users solicited explicit content from minors for in-game currency. Additionally, the report highlights groups within Roblox that facilitate the sharing of exploitative material, with some groups reportedly having memberships exceeding 100,000 users. These findings suggest systemic issues in content moderation and user safety protocols on the platform. The report uncovered the existence of accounts regarding known predators and games such as "Escape to Epstein Island," which were accessible to minors (Hindenburg Research, 2024).

Roblox has categorically denied the allegations made in the Hindenburg report, labelling them as misleading and unfounded. The company asserts its commitment to user safety and transparency in reporting metrics. Roblox emphasises that it employs robust safety measures and content moderation practices to protect its users. However, given the platform’s persistent challenges with moderation, content control, and predatory behaviour, it is difficult to see how Roblox will successfully carry out this commitment.

What Parents Can Do

While Roblox poses significant risks, parents can take proactive steps to protect their children:

Use Parental Controls: Roblox offers tools to limit who interacts with your child, what games they can access, and whether others can search their profile. Enabling account restrictions applies more secure settings automatically (Roblox Support, 2024).

Encourage Device Use in Shared Spaces: Keep gaming devices in communal areas of the home rather than bedrooms. This helps ensure adult supervision and makes it easier to observe your child's interactions and screen time to limit who can interact with your child, what games they can access, and whether their profile can be searched. Enabling account restrictions applies more secure settings automatically.

Disable or Limit Chat: One of the greatest threats to child online safety stems from the chat function. For younger users, Bark (2024) highly recommends disabling chat or restricting it to approved friends.

Monitor Activity: Regularly review your child’s recently played games and in-game spending habits to identify any red flags.

Maintain Open Communication: Talk to your child about online safety. Make sure they understand that sharing personal information or chatting with strangers is dangerous and that they can come to you with concerns at any time.

Warning from Officer David Gomez

Officer David Gomez, a school safety expert and law enforcement officer, has repeatedly sounded the alarm about Roblox’s risks to children. Based on his frontline experience, he offers the following insights:

Chat Feature Risks: Officer Gomez warns that Roblox’s chat feature is a prime tool for online predators. While chat can be disabled, many parents are unaware of this option or of the scale of the threat.

In-Game Purchases and Financial Risk: Robux can be purchased using real money. Officer Gomez has seen cases where children used their parents' credit card information without consent, resulting in thousands of dollars in unauthorised charges.

Addictive Qualities: Roblox can be highly addictive and time-consuming. Officer Gomez describes it as a “gateway app,” warning that it can contribute to future technology addictions if not managed carefully.

Emergency Incidents: According to Gomez, Roblox and Fortnite are the top two platforms mentioned in 911 calls from parents. These calls often involve extreme emotional reactions when children are restricted or removed from the game—some even involving property damage or threats of violence.

Conclusion

Roblox presents a compelling and creative digital environment for children, but it also brings with it serious safety concerns. With reports of grooming, inappropriate content, and weak moderation, it is essential that parents remain vigilant. Through active monitoring, parental controls, and open conversations, families can reduce the risks while allowing their children to enjoy the positive aspects of online play.


References

© 2025 not-my-kid