In the government’s campaign to crackdown on child safety concerns, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) released a warning to the popular gaming platform Roblox to improve child safety conditions or risk sanctions.
This comes after a string of disturbing reports that involves sexual predation, grooming, and even extremist indoctrination. According to DICT Secretary Henry Aguda, Roblox is now formally on notice and has laid out a few conditions in his Facebook post.
Not The First Time…
This isn’t the first time the DICT threatened a major platform with a ban. Just a few weeks ago, DICT considered banning the popular messaging platform Telegram over concerns of pornography and illegal gambling but has now reached an agreement with the messaging platform.
What Prompted The Notice?
Recently, a supposed attack on a school was hampered by the police. The supposed perpetrators? Teens, boys and girls, ages 12 to 17. Police say that had the students possessed the necessary equipment, the attack would materialize.
In the subsequent investigation, police found out that these teens were contacted by foreign handlers through the gaming platform Roblox. The teens were then exposed to videos with violent content, ranging from shootings, beatings, to beheadings.
The Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), as well as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Centre (CICC) has renewed calls for parents to monitor they’re children’s online presence to prevent influences from bad actors.
What Happens Now?
For now, Roblox can still operate without restrictions, however, that may change if the gaming platform fails to cooperate with PH authorities to reach an agreement.
As of this writing, Roblox still hasn’t responded to the calls of the PH government.
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