Free games only limited by your imagination? Roblox is the place to be. That said, everything under the sun can happen on this platform…Roblox exposed by allegations.
Unveiled by Hindenburg Research, the platform allegedly misled its investors and engaged in other shameful activities. Not only that, but even moderators must endure unwanted content for a meager stipend.
According to the US investment research firm, Roblox isn’t financially sound and has been losing billions. Insiders have sold $150 million in stock in the past year, including $115 million by CEO David Baszucki himself.
But the platform is still running because investors have been blinded. The firm claimed that there are two books for counting users: one for internal business decisions and another for the finance team. The latter will be delivered to investors.
So, if the second book reports 50 million users per day, it doesn’t mean these users are unique. A single user can have multiple accounts that serve as alternates or bots.
Here’s a more disturbing discovery: child pornography and soliciting sexual acts. The firm listed a username “under 13” to see if a child will be exposed to adult content. Plugging in “adult” to the search bar, a group called “Adult Studios” showed up.
It listed more than 3,000 members who openly traded child pornography and solicited sexual acts from minors. The firm tracked some of the members and among 38 Roblox groups found, one group has 103K members, also openly soliciting sexual favors and trading child pornography.
The best content moderation in the world is a dream but Roblox’s version is like a nightmare. Content moderators are only paid $12 a day to review and endure child grooming and bullying instances. They also have limited power to ban these perpetrators permanently.
Hate speech is prevalent on the platform as well. The School Simulator game lets players write such speech on the chalkboard.
Roblox’s platform model is no surprise to breed these allegations. But letting things stay that way to keep business afloat is probably the real issue.