Roblox planning changes in order to return to Russian market

Roblox is exploring changes that it could make so that it can return to Russia after being banned.

Reuters reports – via the Interfax news agency – that Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor has said that the US games platform had reached out saying it was ready to comply with local law.

Roskomnadzor added that Roblox had promised to ensure it would “remove destructive and dangerous information and prevent criminal activity and user communications on the platform”.

The watchdog added that if there was “a genuine willingness” to “change its approach to ensuring children’s safety online”, then it will be willing to engage with Roblox.

The games platform has confirmed this news, saying that it was prepared to “temporarily limit communication features in Russia and to revise our content moderation processes to address the legal requirements necessary to restore our community’s access to the platform.”

There’s no word as to when Roblox will return to the country. Its removal sparked an outcry from players, with the Kremlin confirming that Vladimir Putin had received “many” letters from children on the subject, and a pro-Kremlin censorship commentator saying on Telegram she had received 63,000 messages on the topic, in half of which children expressed a desire to leave Russia as a result of the ban. Reuters reports that the decision has sparked rare in-person protests.

The Roblox spokesperson continued: “Roblox intends to continue dialogue with Roskomnadzor as access to the platform is restored, including discussions around additional compliance measures that may be considered over time.”

They concluded: “Roblox is deeply committed to the safety of our users, with a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to catch and prevent harmful content on our platform.”

Roskomnadzor blocked Roblox from Russia at the start of December over concerns that the platform was being used to distribute propaganda, as well as justifying “extremist and terrorist activity”. The agency also claimed that Roblox featured information concerning “LGBT issues”.

Roblox has also been banned by the governments of both Iraq and Türkiye.

The platform is not the only company to come under Roskomnadzor scrutiny. The agency recently asked Valve, Apple and Google to remove a game that featured LGBTQ+ content; the Steam giant was allegedly the only one to actually comply with this directive.