What is Roblox and should you let your kids use it?

The online safety watchdog has put them on notice, but millions of kids every day play - and so do predators.

It's one of the world's biggest phenomena among school-age children, and the online safety watchdog has just put it on notice. So what do parents need to know about Roblox?

The online gaming platform was released in 2006 and has become a huge hit among under-16s in particular, comparable to global fads like Fortnite.

On Roblox, people can create and share their own games, and play them with friends - or total strangers.

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There is also a social media aspect to the platform, including a chat feature.

While Roblox is yet to be caught up in Australia's social media ban, it has put in place safety measures that are meant to prevent contact between adults on the platform and under-16s.

However, the eSafety Commissioner has now said those measures will be tested, amid growing concerns of child exploitation on the platform.

Communications Minister Anika Wells is also seeking a meeting with Roblox representatives, with her office confirming the company had agreed.

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What's the danger?

There are fears that adult predators may be turning to sites like Roblox to target victims.

Leading digital researcher and futurist Dr Jo Orlando said parents needed to understand the gargantuan scale of the Roblox phenomenon.

"Millions of kids around the world are on this every day," she said.

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She said there did appear to be an increase in the attention being paid to grooming and exploitation online, but that it had been an "ongoing problem" in the community.

The social media ban has had its own impact, concentrating young users onto fewer sites.

"Groomers approach as friends. You know, they'll send a message saying 'hi, you seem cool'," she said.

"It doesn't seem like a threat to a kid, and that's step one for the groomers."

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She said Roblox's chat barricades between adults and children had been a good idea, but "on the ground" it simply wasn't working as intended.

Orlando said parents needed to be aware of what their children were doing and who they were speaking with online, especially on Roblox, due to the huge and sprawling nature of the concept.

"Roblox is a bit of a free-for-all," she said.

"You need to know what's going on, you need to be more hands-on as a parent. You can't keep it in the background."

The simplest way for parents to check their children's safety was to read their messages after logging off, if they suspected something was wrong, Orlando said.

Changes in behaviour, increased time on their device, secretive behaviour, and even risque talk could all indicate potential danger.

Orlando said the next step for any parent was simple - report the matter to police.

"They are on it very quickly, they are great," she said.

She said that even if any messaging or behaviour had only changed recently, there may have been weeks or months of prior grooming leading up to it.

Leading expert Professor Nicola Henry from RMIT University said image-based abuse facilitated by AI followed a recognisable pattern.

"First, they make you feel special - like you can trust them," Henry said.

"Then they make you feel like you don't want to tell anyone about them.

"The conversations often become sexual or deeply personal very quickly.

"Then things change - fast."

What's being done?

Wells said Roblox was being "put on notice" by the government ahead of their meeting.

"The reports we've been hearing about children being exposed to graphic content on Roblox and predators actively using the platform to groom young people are horrendous," she said.

"Something must be done – now.

"Australian parents and children expect more from Roblox. They can and must do more to protect kids, and when we meet I'll be asking how they propose to do that."

Meanwhile, The Daniel Morcombe Foundation yesterday launched two new resources to support schools, families and young people to recognise, react and report abuse.

The films and accompanying guides were designed to be delivered in the classroom.

Victim-survivors and young people were consulted in scripting and production, as well as educators and experts, to ensure the films were realistic and respectful.

Bruce and Denise Morcombe addressed the fears around Roblox when they spoke at the launch.

"If anybody's children are using it, just please watch what your children are doing, and just make sure they're not talking to different people that they don't know," Denise Morcombe said.

Roblox has defended its child safety measures, saying the protection of users was a major priority.

"Roblox has robust safety policies and processes to help protect users that go beyond many other platforms, and advanced safeguards that monitor for harmful content and communications," a spokesperson said.

"We have filters designed to block the sharing of personal information, our chat features don't allow user-to-user image or video sharing, and we recently rolled out age checks globally to limit kids and teens to only chatting with others of similar age by default.

"We also work closely with Australian law enforcement to support their investigations. While no system is perfect, our commitment to safety never ends, and we continue to strengthen protections to help keep users safe."

Tech expert Trevor Long said Roblox had gone a lot further than many other platforms, putting in place "industry-leading" protections.

But, he said, "they're not doing enough to stop kids seeing content they shouldn't see".

"The most important thing is educating parents that Roblox is not a kid's game. It's not. It looks like a cartoon," he told Today.

"When you see all the vision that we're showing of Roblox, you think it's a fun, cartoony game. It can be. But there's also other things that happen within Roblox that are not really kid-friendly gaming."

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