The Australian Government’s eSafety office has formally asked Roblox, Microsoft, Epic, and Valve to specifically outline how their systems are preventing child grooming and the spread of extremism. The eSafety office is an independent agency that was initially established in 2015 to combat youth cyberbullying and the online distribution of child sexual abuse material, but its role has since expanded to cover protections for all Australians from a spectrum of online risks.
As per eSafety’s announcement, legally enforceable transparency notices have been issued to the aforementioned companies in the wake of its continuing concerns about platforms like Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Steam itself “being used by sexual predators to groom children and by extremist groups to spread violent propaganda and radicalise young people.”
“What we often see after these offenders make contact with children in online game environments, they then move children to private messaging services,” said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant in a published statement. “Gaming platforms are amongst the online spaces most heavily used by Australian children, functioning not only as places to play, but also as places to socialise and communicate. Our own research into children and gaming showed around 9 in 10 children aged 8 to 17 in Australia had played online games.”
Inman Grant went on to point out that predatory adults are well aware of this, and “target children through grooming or embedding terrorist and violent extremist narratives in gameplay.”
Inman Grant subsequently made reference to “numerous media reports about grooming taking place on all four of these platforms as well as terrorist and violent extremist-themed gameplay.”
Examples included “Islamic State-inspired games and recreations of mass shootings on Roblox, as well as far right groups recreating fascist imagery in Minecraft,” plus Fortnite games based upon World War II concentration camps and events like the US Capitol Building riot of January 6, 2021. Inman Grant added that “Steam is reportedly a hub for a number of extreme-right communities.” No specific examples were noted, though Valve has been previously scrutinized over being home to “tens of thousands of groups” that amplify Nazi and other hate-based content.
“These online game and gaming-adjacent platforms are used by millions of children and so it is imperative that they take every possible step to protect them and continue to improve safeguards,” said Inman Grant.
The eSafety office notes that compliance with a transparency reporting notice is mandatory, and penalties of up to AUD$825,000 a day can be issued to companies for failure to respond.
In a response provided to IGN, Roblox has outlined a selection of measures it currently employs.
“We welcome engagement with eSafety on this important topic,” said a company spokesperson in the statement. “Roblox has policies that strictly prohibit content or behaviour that incites, condones, supports, glorifies, or promotes any terrorist or extremist organisation or individual, which we work tirelessly to enforce. We swiftly remove such content and take immediate account level action when we find it. We also use advanced AI technology to review all images, text, and avatar items prior to publishing, in order to prevent known extremist iconography from being published. We encourage anyone who sees anything concerning on Roblox to report it to us. Our team works regularly with law enforcement, civil society groups, and other organisations with specific subject matter expertise in countering those who would seek to promote violent extremism.
“Last week, we announced that Roblox will soon introduce new age-based accounts for children under the age of 16. These accounts will more closely align content access, communication settings, and parental controls with a user’s age. While no system is perfect, our commitment to safety never ends, and we will continue to collaborate closely with eSafety on our shared goal of keeping Australian children safe.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
