According to IGN, Russia’s communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, blocked access to Roblox for all Russian citizens. The agency announced the move, stating the platform is “rife with inappropriate content” that harms the “spiritual and moral development of children,” specifically citing “LGBT propaganda.” This action is based on a 2013 law designed to protect children from information denying “traditional family values.” Roblox, which boasts over 151.1 million daily active users, stated it respects local laws and is committed to safety. The ban follows similar actions by countries like Iraq and Turkey, though those were over child safety fears, not LGBT content.
Russia’s Crackdown Context
So, here’s the thing. Russia’s move isn’t coming out of nowhere. They’ve been tightening the screws on any content featuring LGBT themes for over a decade now. That 2013 law is basically the legal hammer they use to justify these bans. It’s framed as protecting kids, but it’s a clear political and cultural stance against LGBT visibility. And Roblox, with its massive, young user base and completely user-generated content, was almost certainly going to be a target eventually. You can’t have millions of kids creating worlds without some of them exploring or expressing ideas about identity. For the Kremlin, that’s an unacceptable risk.
Roblox’s Safety Paradox
Now, the irony is thick here. Russia is banning Roblox for “propaganda,” but much of the international criticism of the platform has been about very real, very serious child safety issues. Look, Roblox has a documented history of horrific incidents, like players attacking a child’s avatar. There are reports of adults grooming kids in-game. The company itself reported over 13,000 incidents to child exploitation authorities in 2023 alone. So Russia’s using a cultural wedge issue, but the platform’s actual safety record is… not great. Roblox is scrambling to fix this, hence last month’s announcement about requiring facial age checks for chat. But it feels belated, and lawsuits like the one from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claim they’ve been “deceiving parents.”
What This Really Means
Basically, this is a collision of two different problems. You have Russia’s authoritarian cultural policy, which sees any non-heteronormative content as a threat. And then you have Roblox’s massive, difficult-to-moderate ecosystem that has genuinely struggled with safety. One is about ideology, the other is about practical platform governance. But both center on kids. Roblox wants to be seen as a “positive space for learning,” but can it ever truly be safe with that much user-generated content? And for Russia, the ban is less about safety and more about control. They’re not trying to make Roblox safer; they’re trying to make it disappear. It’s a stark reminder that in many parts of the world, the internet is not a free-for-all—it’s a tightly controlled information space. As journalist Tom Phillips noted, it’s another major platform getting the axe. I doubt it’ll be the last.
