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Today's Topics:
1. Roblox blocked in Russia (Stephen Loosley)
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2025 22:42:36 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Roblox blocked in Russia
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Russian media finally admits Putin is under fire from angry citizens, but it's
for the recent Roblox ban ? Kremlin says kids have written 63,000 complaint
letters, half said they wanted to leave Russia due to the ban
News By Mark Tyson published 23 hours ago
https://www.tomshardware.com/software/social-media/russian-media-finally-admits-putin-is-under-fire-from-angry-citizens-but-its-for-the-recent-roblox-ban-kremlin-says-kids-have-written-63-000-complaint-letters-half-said-they-wanted-to-leave-russia-due-to-the-ban
How will the Russian Roblox Rebellion be crushed?
Roblox blocked in Russia
[Image caption: Roblox, Children in Russia have raised their voices, demanding
to be heard, saying the government has gone too far.]
A state representative admitted that 63,000 complaint letters were received in
a single week, with half of the irate youngsters threatening to leave Russia.
What?s the fuss? Is it something to do with the ongoing war or sanctions?
No, it is a backlash against the banning of the Roblox gaming platform, reports
The Moscow Times.
The ban is "for their own protection"
Official Russian media say that the Roblox ban was put in place to prevent the
platform from distributing extremist materials and promoting ?LGBT propaganda.?
The game from the California company is full of ?inappropriate content that can
negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children,? asserted
Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor, according to a statement viewed by The
Moscow Times.
Probably more specific and worrying, for parents everywhere, were the
assertions by the Russian watchdog that kids playing Roblox may be sexually
harassed, tricked into intimate photos, or even be ?coerced into committing
depraved acts and violence.?
Indeed, this is a worry for the parents of all open online platforms frequented
by youngsters. Thus, the Roblox corporation asserts it implements ?moderators
and automated systems to proactively identify behaviors that may violate our
policies.?
Leaving Russia for the love of Roblox
Two figures pretty high up in the Russian administration have admitted that the
children of the country have been vociferous in their complaints about the
Roblox ban. Putin?s well known press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that
the Kremlin received ?many? letters from children about the ban imposed on
December 3.
Pro-Kremlin censorship advocate Yekaterina Mizulina also told her Telegram
followers that she had received 63,000 letters from kids aged between eight and
16 on this ban. Half of them said they wished to leave Russia due to the Roblox
blockade, according to Mizulina.
Roblox was the most downloaded game in Russia as recently as 2023. It is
extremely popular with kids, with 111.8 million daily users, according to the
latest monthly metrics we have seen. Around 40% of Roblox gamers are 13 or
under.
Roblox blocked in Russia
The blocked in Russia club
Perhaps it is no surprise that Roblox, the latest Western-owned platform with
social media elements, is being blocked in Russia. You also can?t use Facebook,
Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, or LinkedIn there, for example.
Meanwhile, YouTube is throttled and disrupted in favor of the state-backed
RuTube. (Is there going to be a RuBlox soon?) Russia?s domestic VK social
network is most widely used there, and is heavily moderated, and features
automatic content filtering according to Roskomnadzor?s blacklist.
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