Keep kids off Roblox if worried, CEO Dave Baszucki tells parents | Global News Avenue

The CEO of the giant gaming platform said parents who are worried about their children should not let them use it.

The site has suffered setbacks among the UK’s most popular young gamers aged eight to 12 years old, claims of certain children being exposed to clear or harmful content in the game and allegations of reported bullying and modification.

But its co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki insists that the company is alert to protecting users, noting that “ten millions” have “amazing experience” on the website.

When asked what his message was for parents who didn’t want their children to be on the platform, Mr. Baszaki said: “If you’re uncomfortable, my first message will not let your child go to Roblox.”

“It sounds a bit counterintuitive, but I always believe that parents make their own decisions,” he told BBC News in an exclusive interview.

In response to the interview, Musnett boss Justine Roberts said parents on the forum talked about how they worked hard to manage their children’s use of roblox.

“With parental control, our users urge constant parental supervision,” she told the BBC.

“But we all know that sometimes we do our best in life in the world.

“If you’re taking care of multiple kids and things happen, you may not be able to watch everything they do 24/7 even if you have all the controls for parents.”

US-based Roblox is one of the world’s largest gaming platforms, with more monthly users than the Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation combined. In 2024, it averages over 80 million players per day – about 40% of those under the age of 13. Its huge empire includes approximately 40 million user-generated games and experiences.

In the UK, the Online Safety Act will be implemented in April, creating strict laws for all technology companies specifically designed to protect children from online hazards.

But Mr. Baszaki said he still has confidence in Roblox’s security tools and insisted that the company surpasses the security of its users.

“What we do in the company is that anything bad, even one bad, is too much attitude,” he said.

“We’re watching bullying, we’re watching harassment, we filter all of this stuff, and I’ll say behind the scenes that the analysis has been continuing to engage with law enforcement when necessary.”

Players who choose not to show what he calls “civilization” can face temporary timeouts and longer bans, and Roblox claims to analyse all communications through between members on the platform, increasingly use more advanced AI systems and other technologies to do this, and send anything marked for further investigation.

In November last year, people under the age of 13 were prohibited from sending direct messages, and they were also prohibited from playing in the “party experience” of chatting between players.

However, the BBC was able to create two fake accounts on unconnected devices, one between the ages of 15 and the other between 27 and exchange messages between the two.

While the filter tries to transfer the conversation to another platform, we found an easy way to rename the requests to chat elsewhere and make suggestions on playing more adult games.

When we showed these findings to the Roblox boss, he thought our example emphasized Roblox’s comparative security: People thought they had to take content that could violate Roblox’s rules to other platforms.

“We will not condone any kind of image sharing on our own platform, and I think, I think, beyond the scope of the law for such behavior,” Mr Baszucki said.

He acknowledged that there is a delicate balance between encouraging friendships between young people and preventing them from getting hurt, but he said Roblox could manage both at the same time.

We also threw in him some of the BBC’s discovery Roblox gaming champions, which recommended the most recent 11-year-olds, including:

• “Late Night Boys and Girls Club RP”
• “Special Force Simulator”‘
• “Squid Game”
• “Photosed down the plane… because why not?”

When we asked him if he thought he was right, he said he was confident in the platform’s age rating system.

“One thing that is very important for us to do things here is that it is not only the title of the experience, but also the content of the experience,” he said.

He insists that when Roblox has experience in interest rates, they follow strict guidelines and that the company has a “consistent policy” about it.

Mr. Baszaki established the platform with Eric Cassel in 2004 and released it to the public in 2006, the first Apple iPhone that heralded the beginning of the smartphone era.

Mr. Baszucki described his young self as “less a gamer and more an engineer”, and the couple’s first company was an educational software provider called “Knowledge Revolution.” But they quickly noticed that children not only use the product to complete their homework.

“They want to play and build things. They’re making houses, boats or landscapes, they want to jump in, all of this learning is the sprout of Roblox,” he said.

The name Roblox is a mix of the words “robot” and “obstacles” and it’s in trouble. The platform has grown rapidly in popularity – and there are early warning signs of its future problems.

Mr. Cassel recalled that some players “started” and did not always act in a “civilized” way.

He said the root causes of building a “trust and security system” began “very very early”, and earlier in those, four people acted as security moderators.

He added: “This is the reason for starting this Foundation for Security Civilization.”

But despite attracting good numbers, it did start to make money a year later when the company launched the digital currency heist.

Players buy Robux and use it to buy accessories and unlock content. Content creators are now getting 70% off and the store operates at dynamic pricing, which means the cost of popular items is higher.

Mr Baszaki said the initial resistance to Roblox in the leadership team was as the digital economy was introduced, and it was more than just a hobby for players.

Robux stays, and the company is now worth $4.1 billion (£31 billion).

Its stock has been volatile since its listing in 2021, but overall, Roblox’s stock is worth a third more than six months ago (written by this article). Like many big tech companies, its value peaked during Covid, when lockdown meant millions of people were indoors.

Mr. Baszucki compared his experience in establishing Roblox with Walt Disney’s perception of his work.

He described his work as “somewhat like having the opportunity to design the Magic Kingdom long ago” and focused on Roblox’s continued development into a meta-style experience where people enjoy their daily lives in the virtual world as an avatar.

They are also ambitious and ultimately attract 10% of the world’s gamers.

When asked to describe Roblocks in three words, he replied: “The future of communication.”

We played some of his favorite games together: Natural Disaster Survival and Impression Clothes.

We use his account, and he is often recognized by other players – but we are still smashed by the blizzard outside the natural disaster mansion.

Other reports by Ammmie Sekhon