Calgary teen advocates for Roblox to step up safety efforts to protect kids

Safety concerns are climbing as the online extremism network called '764' uses gaming platforms like Roblox to target vulnerable children.

Popular online gaming platform Roblox is facing scrutiny and a string of lawsuits over child safety concerns and allegations the game doesn’t do enough to protect children on its site – sentiments echoed by a Calgary teen who says she and her friends were targeted on the platform.

“As I got older, I kind of grew out of it, and was like, ‘That is really weird, that’s really iffy that older people are talking to young like ten year olds,’” she said. “There are some games, as soon you join, there is like a group of [predators] all there waiting.”

Just last week, Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the online gaming platform - which boasts more than 111 million monthly users - for inadequate moderations and policies that allows sexual predators to “thrive, unite, hunt and victimize kids.”

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The Canadian Centre for Child Protection says it has seen more than 130 reports involving Roblox this year, an increase from previous years.

“It’s marketed as a kid’s game, so wherever there are kids online is where we’ll frequently see offenders looking to connect with them,” said Camillia Layne with The Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

“This is still the tip of the iceberg, there are often cases where cases are going unreported where kids are being contacted by those seeking to offend against them. So, it’s an increase for us, but it’s also probably an indication there’s an increase of potential incidents of grooming on those platforms on the larger scale of things.”

The 17-year-old Calgary girl says she joined Roblox when she was eight years old and was frequently approached by older users who would make sexually suggestive comments or suggest she take drugs.

“Mushrooms, acid, cocaine,” she said. “They’d be like, ‘Relax, you just need to take some coke,’ and I was like 13.”

The teen says she was also doxed by users who shared her picture and name online in an effort to harass and intimate her.

As such, she asked to remain anonymous for her own safety when speaking to CTV News.

“They would leave your parents’ phone numbers, your face, your Instagram, social media – and then tell everyone to go after you,” she said.

The Calgary teen says she was flooded with thousands of hateful messages, as was her friend.

“She had to go offline for like two or three years because it got so bad,” she said. “Her parents had to get all new phone numbers because people were threatening to kill her.”

The teen says she was shocked to learn another friend took her own life after being bullied over the game.

“I’ve known people who’ve committed suicide over people harassing them over Roblox,” she said. “It was just really weird it; was just kind of like, ‘Wow, they’re actually gone because of what these people did to them.’”

She’s now speaking out and sharing her experiences in hopes online gaming platforms will take more steps to protect kids like her.

“I just think Roblox needs to change its policies and do better,” she said.

Roblox Response

Roblox did not respond to CTV News’ request for comment, but has disputed the allegations made in the Louisiana lawsuit.

In a statement posted to its website, developers said the “assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is categorically untrue.”

It said it is continuously working to block the efforts of “bad actors” on the platform.

“While no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous safeguards — such as restrictions on sharing personal information, links and user-to-user image sharing — to help protect our community.”

According to its website, Roblox has a zero-tolerance policy for exploitation of minors.

The company also added some additional safety measures in the face of backlash and criticisms, including a new AI system to detect predatory language in chats.

Dr. Thomas Keenan, a computer science professor at the University of Calgary and author of Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy, believes that platforms like Roblox could be doing more.

“There’s no question that platforms that make money off children ought to spend money to protect children,” he said. “They have moral responsibility to have a security department that is watching for the bad stuff and shutting it down, because they can shut it down if they want to.”

However, he acknowledges it is an uphill battle with millions of users and messages exchanged every day, often with code words to throw off security and watchful parents.

He said it’s not enough to monitor children online; parents and guardians need to teach kids how to protect themselves from online predators.

“Kids will find ways to get on this. You’re not going to beat them technically, you have to beat them emotionally, intellectually and mentally by teaching them they don’t want to put themselves in harms way,” he said. “You have to start early, you have to make sure from the very first time they are using Roblox or Minecraft or something, you say ’This is dangerous.’ This is kind of like you’re eight years old and mowing the lawn – but don’t be an idiot, don’t reach under the lawnmower when it’s running. We have to have analogies like that that make sense to kids, because they can’t really conceive the concentrated evil these horrible groups have in them.”

‘We can’t get to it all’

There are a growing number of cases in Canada where children have been sexually exploited online, including cases involving extremism groups, such as 764, that target youth to harm themselves, pets or other family members. https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/written-on-the-wall-with-blood-alberta-teen-targeted-by-violent-online-group-764/

Cpl. Heather Bangle with the ALERT Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit said regardless what platform your child is on, parents need to expect there are people looking to exploit them.

“It’s overwhelming the number of files we have each year,” she said.

Last year, the southern Alberta ICE unit investigated more than 2,600 files.

“I’ve been in ICE a very long time now, and when I started, we had about 300 files a year.”

She said it is also a challenge to investigate cases online due to jurisdictional issues.

“It is very challenging. There are countries around the world that don’t have the same laws we have. A child could easily get exploited, and we might be able to put the leg work in to identify where the users are, but there may not be the resources on the other side to follow up on the investigation. There are so much going on behind the scenes with child exploitation, we can’t get to it all.”

YouthLink offers programs to both youth and parents about online and social media risks and how to protect themselves against online predators.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection also has lessons and safety resources available for parents.