Turkey has blocked access to Roblox and all related applications.
“Access to the Roblox gaming platform and its links in the application markets has been blocked by the 6th Criminal Court of Peace in Adana,” Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç wrote in a statement on X regarding the ban.
The decision was made based on findings “during the investigation conducted by the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into content that could lead to the exploitation of children.”
“Attempts to undermine our social structure, child abuse, promotion of violence and activities that negatively affect the development of our children, each of whom is a precious gift, will never be tolerated,” Tunç’s statement said.
In response to the ban, Roblox said: “We respect the laws and regulations in the countries where we operate and share local lawmakers' commitment to children. We look forward to working together to ensure Roblox is back online in Turkey as soon as possible.”
According to a Bloomberg report published last month, Roblox reported over 13,000 cases of child exploitation in 2023.
The report, which Bloomberg says sheds light on the platform's “predator problem,” reveals that Roblox reported nearly 3,000 cases of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2022, with that number rising to over 13,000 last year.
Although Roblox has improved its child safety measures in recent years, several current and former employees have claimed that the company prioritizes growth over the well-being of its users.
In a statement to VGC last month, a Roblox spokesperson claimed: “A recent article contained blatant misrepresentations about how we protect users of all ages on the platform. It failed to reflect both the complexity of online child safety and the reality of the overwhelmingly positive experiences that tens of millions of people of all ages have on Roblox every day.”