Roblox banned in Turkey to ‘ensure the protection of our children’

Alongside Minecraft, Roblox is the world’s most popular video game. But while both games are aimed primarily at children, Roblox is by far the most controversial, given the way it uses microtransactions and players’ online creations to make money.

That seems to be one of the reasons why Turkey has banned the game. Although Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç has tweeted about it extensively, it is not entirely clear why the game has been banned.

However, according to Google Translate, it concerns “content that could lead to the exploitation of children” and the state “is obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of our children.”

Many people around the world have raised concerns about the game’s reliance on children making games for other children to play – which is the entire premise of Roblox, as it has no core gameplay of its own – and yet critics have argued that Roblox makes it very difficult for them to make money from it.

Many of the games also use highly exploitative methods to make money, which is especially effective because they are aimed at children. However, it does not appear that any of these much-discussed issues are the cause of the ban.

According to a report by Türkiye Today, the ban was mainly due to concerns about sexual content, which “was seen as child exploitation.”

This includes claims that virtual parties were “a gathering place for pedophiles” and that the in-game currency Roblox was used to incentivize children to join them. Türkiye Today also highlights “excessive amounts of gambling” as one of the reasons for the ban.

“We have spent nearly 20 years working to make Roblox one of the safest online platforms for our users, especially our youngest, and keeping our users safe is at the heart of everything we do,” Roblox said in a statement.

“We respect the laws and regulations in countries where we operate and share the commitment of local lawmakers to children. We look forward to working together to ensure Roblox is back online in Turkey as soon as possible.”

The ban comes just five days after Turkey banned Instagram, although that does not seem to matter as the ban came after the site was accused of censoring posts related to the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.