Roblox Still Exposing Minors to Deceptive, Harmful Ads

Over the years, Roblox has made changes to its ad policies under the banner of protecting the millions of minors who use its gaming platform on a daily basis. The problem, as TINA.org first alerted consumers in 2022, is enforcement. And the reality is the platform has become more friendly to brands at the expense of a vulnerable population of children.

For example, after seesawing on a ban on ads intended for kids under 13, Roblox now allows such advertising targeting children as young as five, with some restrictions. These include food and beverage ads. The policy, which went into effect in May, is clear: “Ads may not promote any type of food or beverage.”

Yet through the end of last week, one of the first things users saw when entering the Roblox game, “Obby But You’re On a Bike” – an experience that the platform says is “suitable for everyone” with the lowest “minimal” maturity rating and that has nearly 2 billion visits – was a prominent billboard for Bangers caffeinated potato chips.

In fact, the “paradise” flavor Bangers chips prominently shown in the blue bag, contains up to 200mg of caffeine in a single bag. That’s the same amount of caffeine as in a can of Celsius and more caffeine than in most cups of coffee. And we were able to access the game with a five-year-old child account. Meanwhile, the recommended daily amount of caffeine for children that age is zero.

The billboard, and another one that appeared at the first checkpoint in the game, was also an undisclosed ad for Bangers.

However, after TINA.org alerted Roblox to these concerning findings on Friday, the Bangers billboards promptly came down. In response to a request for comment, a Roblox spokesperson said that the “experience was not in compliance with our Advertising Integrations Policy.”

Advergames

Advertisements disguised as games (also known as advergames) was the focus of our 2022 investigation into Roblox, which resulted in a complaint to the FTC. As we noted in our complaint, children under 13, which at the time made up nearly half of Roblox’s daily users, can’t identify advergames as marketing making it a deceptive and unfair advertising practice. Which was why the ban on ads targeting kids under 13 made sense (even if it wasn’t effectively being enforced). But now Roblox has done away with the ban entirely.

However, Roblox is now making it harder for itself to claim ignorance when it comes to this type of misleading marketing. Under another policy that went into effect last month, developers must get approval from Roblox for “advertising integrations.” The new policy states:

Developers seeking to run Ad Integrations in their experience must make available all assets associated with their Ad Integration campaign to Roblox for review and approval prior to audience exposure.

The policy also requires that developers “clearly, sufficiently, and prominently disclose to users when content is an advertisement using simple and understandable language.”

Clearly, that has not happened here. And there really is no disclosure that would work for a five-year-old in these circumstances.

In response to our inquiry, Roblox stated that its “commitment to safety hasn’t changed.” It went on to explain:

As the landscape of digital engagement has evolved and Roblox has become a primary destination for brands to reach next-generation audiences, we recognized that the organic growth of brand-creator partnerships required a more formal framework with stronger oversight and protections, including limits on what can be shown to users under 13. As our platform matures, our community deserves a clearly labeled, age-appropriate experience, and this framework is how we deliver that.

But it appears that framework already failed.

Regulators, consumer groups step in

While the FTC has yet to take any public action on our 2022 Roblox complaint, others have stepped in.

Several states including Alabama, West Virginia and Nevada have reached multimillion-dollar settlements with Roblox over alleged failures to protect minors from inappropriate content and sexual predators on the platform, while others including Connecticut, Kentucky and Texas are currently investigating or have pending lawsuits against Roblox regarding child safety and marketing issues.

And in May, Fairplay and other consumer groups joined our call for the FTC to look at Roblox, filing a request for investigation into whether the platform’s representations about its safety features for children violate the law, among other things.

The bottom line

Roblox now says that two-thirds of its users are over 13 and that one of the “fastest-growing segments” of users is 21 and older. But such statements seemed designed to distract from the millions of minors on the platform.

Roblox touts that its policies “are stricter than many other platforms.” But what good are they if they aren’t enforced?

Find more of our coverage on Roblox.