The County of Los Angeles filed suit today against social media gaming platform Roblox alleging that the platform failed to protect children from predatory behavior. The lawsuit alleges that while Roblox markets itself as a safe digital space for creativity, it is in reality an unsafe online environment that has become a breeding ground for predators.
But it’s a platform marketed towards children, takes a cut of the shovelware that other kids make, and didn’t bother policing their platform seriously until recently. The fact that it’s a kids game that’s marketed to kids and they go after people reporting on the abuses that they let run rampant on their platform is just mental to me. I really hope Roblox gets taken to the cleaners for how they actively have fucked around and let their platform get to where it is.
It’s this type of thinking that is pushing the “but the kids” rhetoric seemingly world wide.
We either have a free, open and anonymous internet… or a dystopian identity-required-at-every-point-of-access, heavily moderated, hellscape.
The internet isn’t a daycare, the parents should be playing with them or close by at all times.
Is your argument that kids spaces should be free and open spaces, because the only alternative is everything has to be age gated? If not, feel free to expand on what this has anything to do with how a service advertised to kids shouldn’t be treated differently than non kid-oriented services.
Internet is not a daycare. You are correct.
BUT ROBLOX MARKETED ITSELF AS BEING FOR KIDS. ROBLOX SAID THEY WERE FOR KIDS. YOUNG KIDS. ROBLOX SAID THIS.
You can repeat your daycare line all you want, but that line has nothing to do with what Roblox claimed they were. Your scenario has no place here, since you are not even in the same ballpark or planet as Roblox.
I think the point he’s trying to make is that parents are not teaching kids to be safe in the internet and instead are asking for daddy government to do their parenting for them, without being aware that what they’re doing is signing away the rights of LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE to criticize the government in the future without getting put on a fucking list (Discord’s age verification literally sends your info to Palantir and Peter Thiel and profiles the person, especially if they’re avid Trump or ICE critics). There were plenty of platforms for kids back in the day, they all had this problem (somewhat), but it was nowhere near as concerning as before because the kids in the 2000’s were warned multiple times by their parents to exercise caution when using the internet.
Teaching kids to be responsible about their online activities is good, but it can’t be the only solution. Just like teaching women to be wary of men can’t be the only solution to stop date rape. (Also, making the victims responsible for stopping their own victimization doesn’t really work anyway, particularly when it comes to kids. It just saddles them with tons of guilt if they fail to stop it, which can be used to keep the abuse going)
I don’t see why it’s such a problem to have billion-dollar sites aimed toward kids being required to hire adequate moderation if they have social services available. No age checks needed, no verifications or anything, just clear and very strict rules (because again, this is aimed at kids, if adults want to use it they can conform to the kid rules or gtfo) that get enforced across the board.
That could work but I dunno if Roblox would even want to put on the effort (given that they banned a man exposing pedophiles in the platform), and also having moderators means they ARE a point of failure since there could be a groomer amongst them who just happens to not have criminal records. However, trying to childproof the internet in response to things like this is beyond stupid.
If they don’t want to put forth the effort, they they should be fined until they shutter.
I will repeat it. Roblox is not a daycare. If you want your kids to go online and play games, then supervise them.
Sorry but the ipad isn’t a fucking pacifier. If you want to leave your children unhindered on the internet, Roblox or whatever, then that’s on you. If you aren’t looking after your child’s well-being, then don’t expect some game to do that for you.
The mental gymnastics people put to place the blame firmly on online games is maddening. I expect those who disagree also let their kids run around the supermarket unsupervised.