Fast Company Sex, lies, and video games: Inside Roblox’s war on porn

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From: Fast Company Compass - Wednesday Aug 19, 2020 12:32 pm
Fast Company Compass
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In early April, shortly after Fast Company closed its offices and sent its staff to work from home, we asked editor-at-large Burt Helm to look into how massive online gaming platforms, such as Roblox, approach content moderation: As their virtual worlds grow more robust, are they wrestling with the kinds of issues that have plagued Facebook and Twitter?

In the months since, increasing numbers of quarantined children have embraced Roblox as their primary social outlet: Today, kids between the ages of 5 and 9 spend more time playing Roblox than doing anything else on their PCs. Half of Americans under 16 are on the platform. 

And, as Burt was discovering, some of them have been exploiting Roblox in explicit ways. His reporting uncovered the world of Roblox "condo games": digital sex parties that are comically crude (at first glance) yet profoundly disturbing. It’s a world where kids act like adults, and where adults could be posing as kids. And the people who are supposed to be in charge—at Roblox and the gamer-friendly chat app Discord—seem incapable of fully reining things in. Sound familiar? Read the full report here.

—Amy Farley
 
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