Dictators are powerful, but even they will’t contend with the might of an offended child.
One despot who’s finding that out the hard way is Vladimir Putin.
The president has unleashed a wave of fury amongst young Russians after the country decided to ban the gaming platform Roblox.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor confirmed on December 3 it had blocked the US-owned Roblox, which allows users to create and play their very own games.
It accused the platform of distributing ‘LGBT propaganda’ and extremist material.
The choice has angered a military of youngsters. Putin’s press secretary said they’d written ‘many letters’ to the Kremlin ahead of the end-of-year presidential press conference on December 19.
Pro-Kremlin censorship advocate Ekaterina Mizulina said she had received 63,000 letters from children aged eight to 16.
Half said they wanted to go away the country after the Roblox ban.
Mizulina warned that ‘the mass circumvention’ of the ban ‘fosters a general disdain for presidency decisions’.
She added: ‘Ultimately, this results in misunderstandings and mistrust. That is bad, and it worries me.’
Roblox was probably the most downloaded mobile game in Russia in 2023.
It’s played by 100 million people day by day, with under-13s accounting for 40 per cent of its users in 2024.
Roskomnadzor said in an announcement that children on Roblox were ‘subjected to sexual harassment, tricked into intimate photos and coerced into committing depraved acts and violence.’
The watchdog added that the sport is stuffed with ‘inappropriate content that may negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of youngsters’.
The Roblox Corporation has stressed they’ve a ‘deep commitment to safety’ and moderate all content through human review and artificial intelligence tools, including to remove ‘exploitative content’.
It said: ‘We respect the local regulations within the countries where we operate and imagine Roblox provides a positive space for learning, creation, and meaningful connection for everybody.’
Roskomnadzor has also confirmed the ban of social media app Snapchat, saying it was getting used to ‘conduct terrorist activities’.
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