The 15-day deadline for Roblox will end next week. By then we will know for certain if Roblox will be banned in the country or not.

PLDT and Smart have issued statements that they are ready to ban the platform. Last week, Globe announced they were ready when it was needed.

Roblox is facing much scrutiny over child safety concerns. It is facing multiple cases against it by different countries, especially different states across the US.

While Roblox is indeed a game for children. Many adults play it. And not all of it is for the game itself, but for the players. Malicious players target children players, befriending them by various means such as giving away in-game items. They would try to isolate children to other social platforms to begin grooming them. By pushing children toward third-party platforms, the malicious actors can avoid Roblox’s “Report Abuse” feature.

A few weeks ago minors were rescued after being groomed in an online game where they are made to plan acts of terrorism. While the game itself is not explicitly named, it is believed to be Roblox.

The DICT and CICC mentioned not wanting to punish regular users and that the ban itself is a last resort. However, they insist that Roblox must ramp up its child safety features.

Currently, Roblox’s safety measures include direct messages being disabled for children under 13 and 9, however this can be enabled with parental consent. Private rooms are also restricted.

They have chat filtering as well, which prevents inappropriate messages, bullying, and sending personal information. This is one of the biggest reasons why malicious actors are luring players to third-party messaging platforms. A recommendation of our own, would be for parents to constantly remind their children not to leave Roblox’s own messaging features.

While VPN is indeed an option for many users, the reliable ones that provide decent connection speeds require purchasing power.