SAN ANTONIO – Have you heard of Roblox? If you’re a parent, you probably have.
Roblox is an app that carries over 40 million user-made games made primarily for kids.
However, the more popular Roblox gets, the more child predators are targeting users.
The potential for predators is why Roblox and other similar apps have become controversial. KSAT spoke to parents and the Roblox Corporation to find out what parents can do to keep their kids safe.
San Antonio mother Lisa Marie Helmke said her son has played Roblox since he was 5 years old.
Helmke’s son is now 12, and they still love Roblox.
They play together most of the time, but his years of play have been under close watch.
“We played it ourselves for a couple of weeks, checking out the games that are in there and what access he would have. And we were able to limit his access based off of the age that we set in his profile,” Helmke said. “We limit what he can play and who he can chat with and then certain games don’t even show up.”
In the seven years since they began playing, the app has gained serious popularity as well as more unwanted attention from certain users.
‘Sextortion’ on the rise
“We’ve seen investigations continue to rise across the country related to sextortion, sexual exploitation of children, due to the increased use of the Internet,” FBI San Antonio Division’s Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alex Doran said. “We have a whole squad here in San Antonio and Austin and in some of our other satellite offices.”
With social engineering and artificial intelligence, Doran said it’s become easier for predators to trick young kids into believing that they are talking to friends and extorting different things from them.
“It looks like there’s somebody in your neighborhood or at your school. But if you don’t physically know the person and you don’t know the parent, then the advice is, ‘Absolutely. Do not let your child play with that person online,’” Doran said.
Doran said there are three things predators try to extort from kids:
- money
- sexually explicit material
- self or animal harm material
“What we’ve seen an increasing alarming increase in is them trying to get children to commit self-harm and or harm animals,” Doran said.
Though it’s an incredibly tough thing to think about, the reality is that some young children, according to Doran, may consider taking or have already taken their own lives due to the extortions.
“Sadly, that’s one of the reasons that we’ve put a higher emphasis towards this because children feel ashamed, embarrassed and, in the moment, they don’t feel like there’s any way out,” Doran said.
Doran said once explicit content is sent, the predators blackmail and threaten children so they don’t tell an adult. Instead, some send more money or other materials.
He emphasizes that older teens are still kids and need oversight, as well.
“I always use this example that you would never take your 15 or 16-year-old child to a bar at 2 a.m. and drop them off,” Doran said. “But if you give them unfettered access to the internet, that is 10 times worse than doing that.”
The FBI prioritizes the most severe cases, including trafficking when the predator convinces the child to meet in person.
The agency traces and takes apart high-level money extortion rings, but law enforcement can’t do everything.
Doran said agencies need help from parents and tech companies, as well.
What is Roblox doing about it?
KSAT asked what Roblox’s awareness is about child predators gaming on the app.
“We have been thinking about this and building for it and designing our platform with safety in mind for kids from the beginning,” the company told KSAT.
Roblox Senior Director of Product Policy Eliza Jacobs said the company is constantly evolving to get ahead of predators.
“We use A.I. (artificial intelligence). We use automated systems. We use humans,” Jacobs said. “We have thousands of moderators all over the world. We have deep subject matter expertise, investigators that come from the FBI and the CIA and other places.”
Some Roblox moderators review content and catch things before they upload. Other moderators respond to reports of abuse on the platform.
“Roblox is, I think, a step above in many other places. For example, we filter every line of text on the platform by default and that includes things like profanity,” Jacobs said. “That is just much more strict than really anywhere else on the internet.”
Those filters can change depending on the age level of the child playing the games.
In November, Jacobs said Roblox completely overhauled its parental controls system.
“Parents should go on Roblox and open up their own account, create their own avatar and their own username, and then they can link their account to their kid’s account,” Jacobs said. “They’ll have this whole suite of parental controls, so things like screen time and spend limits and friend controls. ‘Who can your kids talk to on Roblox? What kinds of games can they play?’”
The key for parents is entering their child’s age and default protections.
Jacobs said there are blanket default settings for kids under 13 where the direct chat is disabled and they cannot respond in the public chats. Children under 13 also do not have access to certain games.
Parents can then go into their child’s account and add more restrictions on top of the default setting.
For players 13 and older, there is a voice chat option.
“But we also have an industry-leading voice safety model that intervenes if we hear that there’s voice chat that violates our policies and sends nudges to users that, ‘Hey, we think what you were just saying violates our policies,’” Jacobs said. “And then we’ll time you out, actually, if we find that you’re continuing to violate the policy.”
There is a restricted section called “17+” that is only available to users 17 years and older. Those users can verify their age by completing an ID verification.
The Roblox website said that content may contain strong violence, heavy realistic blood, moderate crude humor, romantic themes, unplayable gambling content, the presence of alcohol, strong language, and/or moderate fear.
Parents are suggested to make sure younger players cannot log into older players' profiles.
“We recently joined this partnership called Roost to develop open source safety tools and be able to sort of give them out to other platforms to make everybody safer, because really, this is a multi-platform problem,” Jacobs said.
Tech companies and law enforcement also urge parents to talk to their children about how to stay safe online.
How to talk to your kids
“When you’re talking about online activity and online dangers, reiterate to them it is OK to come forward,” Doran said. “Talk to a parent. Talk to a teacher. Talk to law enforcement.”
Doran said children must know which trusted adult they can go to if they’re in trouble.
“We found out once they actually communicate and talk to somebody, that can help them,” Doran said. “For one, the sextortion itself will stop. And two, there’s a much, much, much lower chance of them committing self-harm, and we can get them help.”
The lack of conversation and education has led to massive under-reporting, which means law enforcement cannot intervene.
“We know there are more cases that are out there that don’t go reported due to embarrassment, shame, whatever the case may be,” Doran said. “If it’s increased tenfold, we know there’s a 20-fold increase in actual victims out there.”
Doran wants families and kids to know that children will never get in trouble for anything they do while being extorted.
“They are a victim. It is not their fault,” Doran said. “These predators are master manipulators.”
The FBI works to educate parents on how to talk to their kids about avoiding online predators. Because kids as young as 8 years old can be victims, these conversations need to start early.
Parents have different options
After those talks, each parent can decide on their children’s gaming use.
Some parents don’t risk it and do not allow Roblox as an option for their family while others want their kids to play on the safest level.
“The first thing parents can do is not allow the game to be played online. I have my kids have an Xbox Live or Xbox, (but) they do not play online,” Doran said. “They get to play each other when it’s two consoles.”
Helmke said she uses a different strategy.
“We just discussed the reality of the world. ‘There’s a lot of terrible people out there. This is what the terrible people try to get from you,’” Helmke said. “And we tell him, ‘How do you feel about that?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, I don’t want strange people talking to me.’ And I’m, like, ‘OK, so we’re going to disable the chat.’ So, he becomes part of the decision.”
Difficult, awkward and honest conversations can prevent the unthinkable while teaching kids to think for themselves.
Anyone who is a parent and wants to learn more about Roblox protections and rules, click here.