Dictators are powerful, but even they can’t contend with the might of an angry child.
One despot who is finding that out the hard way is Vladimir Putin.
The president has unleashed a wave of fury among 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 own games.
It accused the platform of distributing ‘LGBT propaganda’ and extremist material.
The decision has angered an army of children. Putin’s press secretary said they had 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 leave the country after the Roblox ban.
Mizulina warned that ‘the mass circumvention’ of the ban ‘fosters a general disdain for government decisions’.
She added: ‘Ultimately, this leads to misunderstandings and mistrust. This is bad, and it worries me.’
Roblox was the most downloaded mobile game in Russia in 2023.
It is played by 100 million people daily, with under-13s accounting for 40 per cent of its users in 2024.
Roskomnadzor said in a statement 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 game is filled with ‘inappropriate content that can negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children’.
The Roblox Corporation has stressed they have 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 in the countries where we operate and believe Roblox provides a positive space for learning, creation, and meaningful connection for everyone.’
Roskomnadzor has also confirmed the ban of social media app Snapchat, saying it was being used to ‘conduct terrorist activities’.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
