On April 14, 2022,  “The Kardashians” released their first episode of season 1. In the episode, Saint West ran up to his mom Kim Kardashian with his tablet to show her an advertisement of her crying that popped up while playing Roblox. According to Kardashian, Saint does not know how to read, but the picture had a link to her sexual content. Minutes later, Kardashian bursts into tears, then calls her ex-husband Kanye West to tell him what happened. She expresses how all her money and resources will help her handle the situation. On Friday, April 14, a spokesperson from Roblox confirmed the existence of the game but noted that the referenced video did not exist on their platform, and banned the community developer involved with the incident.

“This all started earlier at the barbecue. It was clickbait insinuating that if you click on it, there was gonna be a new sex tape coming out…. Had my son been a bit older and been able to read, like, I would’ve been mortified, but I… died inside,” Kardashian said.

Children from across the world use Roblox to design and publish games. On the game, any user, including kids, can make ads for their game, and gamers often use clickbait or memes to direct attention to ads for their games. The meme-like ads on the game do not look like ads anywhere else. These features show up consistently in Roblox’s marketing place because young Roblox users make the ads that run alongside the games. People use popular franchise characters that developers do not own to lure clicks.

Although the majority of Roblox’s audience includes minors, the game contains uncensored content and allows people from every age group to join. While allowing kids to generate creative content makes the game more enjoyable, the unrestrained ability to upload any media also makes Roblox a dangerous gaming site. Kids ages 9-14 tend to make highly inappropriate jokes regarding sexual content. The creation of ads and linking of websites leads kids to inappropriate sites containing sexual content, camming sites, and even the dark web. Giving kids too much permission can put themselves and anyone around them in danger. The chat feature and uploaded user content leave children at risk of exposure to a worrying range of inappropriate adult content, bullying and abuse.

While it might take a while before Roblox takes measures with the content shared on their site, parents should talk to their kids about what they upload to any site. A safe gaming environment keeps kids out of trouble. 

“Roblox needs to do a better job at deciding what content is appropriate for the users of their game and establish more restrictions. If they want to be smart about it they should have targeted ads instead of things involving sexual content. No kid should be exposed to pornography on any website or gaming app,” American Literature teacher Laura Sunderland said.