Hindenburg Research, a prominent short-selling firm, has released a scathing report accusing the Roblox Corporation, amongst other things, of creating an "X-rated paedophile hellscape" for children, and of reporting inflated Roblox metrics to investors. Roblox Corporation, which reported an operating income of $1.6 billion last year, refutes these claims, calling them "misleading".
As reported by the Wall Street Journal (thanks, IGN), Roblox stocks dipped in response to the report, which was at least partially the point. Previous reports by Hindenburg have resulted in U.S. Justice Department investigations into companies like Nikola, Adani Group, and Super Micro Computer. The research firm alleges Roblox's claim of 79.5 million daily active users is inflated by between 25% and 42%, citing an independent technical consultant it employed to monitor 7,000 games across 2.1 million servers, collecting some 297.7 million rows of real-time player data.
Far more concerning than the corporate fibs, the report alleges that the game has become a haven for paedophiles and groomers due to a lack of "up-front screening to prevent them from joining the platform." In a truly heinous discovery, Hindenburg claims to have found one group called "Adult Studios", with its 3,334 members openly trading child pornography and soliciting sexual acts on the Roblox platform.
An estimated 60% of Roblox users are children under 16, and 21% are under nine. Hindenburg found 900+ variations of accounts called "Jeffrey Epstein", seemingly unmoderated. Upon registering for a child account, Hindenburg could easily access thousands of user-created games like "Escape to Epstein Island" or "Diddy Party".
A Roblox spokesperson called the report "misleading", accusing Hindenburg of having an agenda and refuting the claims, stating: "We firmly believe that Roblox is a safe and secure platform and in the financial metrics we report." Hindenburg, for its part, said that Roblox's response failed to address the report's core allegations.
Does it seem like anyone is even paying attention to what's going on in Roblox, one of the most-played games of all time? Deny your kids' video games entirely in the comments section below.
Comments 37
Yeah i can believe this. Its an awful platform and its a shame the likes of Sony and MS allow it on PS and Xbox.
Not to mention that you HAVE to have a Roblox account to use Guilded. That's another reason their user numbers are blown up too.
Saw this on CNBC this morning (or maybe it was yesterday morning) and hearing them say all this stuff out loud was pretty wild. But not in a good way. You’d think it would be easy to check though if there are that many Jeffrey Epstein accounts or an adults only room. Wouldn’t surprise me though, but then again the worst of humanity rarely does, just the occasional good stories.😩
I’m not bothered about numbers and user metrics when the matter of child pornography is not the first thing they should be addressing in their response to these claims. My sister is already worried about my little nephew playing that game enough as it is. They better address the moderation problems fast
As a semi-veteran Roblox user, yeah pretty much.
Please, parents, surveillance your kid's internet activity and who they interact with, especially on platforms like Roblox. I was lucky enough not to run into any predators on Roblox when I was young, but I know some people who have, and it's not pretty.
Roblox's moderation is terrible, especially for a billion dollar company that is primarily targeted towards children. And with them prioritizing user generated clothing, accessories, and of course, money through advertising and sponsorships over safety, that may not change anytime soon. Take note of that.
Roblox may be a game, but child safety isn't.
As in real life, kids should not be interacting/talking with strangers unsupervised.
I generally hate overly hampered/safe communication systems in games...but when the target audience are kids - lock that sh*t down. 🤬
And in other news, grass is green and water is wet.
The only online game my kids are currently permitted to play is Concord
Roblox, Fortnite and those psychopathic gacha games from China are gaming's black sheep. To promote them is to follow the ways of the Sith.
Fear of missing out is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to paying for gambling boxes.
I’m sure that I heard this about Roblox years ago 🤷♂️
Bloomberg did a deep dive in the summer on the massive problem with peados on Roblox. Some truly awful stuff was unearthed and here we are again. Zero accountability and zero solutions.
I don't let my kids near sites like this one anyway. I myself sometimes get weird messages from these people as they likely think I'm a lot younger rather than an adult. I won't say what I would like to do to them here but I believe you get the general idea.
@HotGoomba Facebook Moderators don't seem to give a damn either. In fact they're the most useless bunch of human beings I've ever come across. The times I've reported inappropriate content and they do nothing at all is insane.
@Malaise sadly true, the world has gone to *****
Looks like Hindenburg it trying to bring some damage as same as their zeppelin.
My Son plays Roblox much to my dismay, he's 9. I don't want to ban him from playing it, because alot of his friends play it but I can't stand it. It's full of stolen assets from other companies I have no idea how they have not been sued into oblivion. I will play a few round of Fortnite with him, but I refuse to install this trash on my console.
Luckily as time has gone by, because the quality of the games is usually so bad he plays it rarely. I have tried to explain to him that it's a platform that is full of low effort garbage who's main goal is to get you to spend. If he wants a new experience he is better off buying an actual game than wasting his money here.
I won’t let my son near Roblox or Fortnite because I feel the platforms are gross. Unhappy to see my feeling so strongly substantiated about one of them. I’m usually against cancelling things, but, from what I’ve read, I’m not sure I can find a positive toward what Roblox does as a platform. It seems like the most unethical and predatory place in gaming and, as such, parts of it need to be harshly reviewed and corrected immediately to correct it, even if it kills the platform. Do the right thing.
@Czar_Khastik I know it's safe for my kids because there are zero adults there
Your game is designed for and marketed towards kids and has no monetary barrier to entry. If you don't think it's infested with paedophiles, you're deluded.
I never like popular stuffs like Fortnite or Roblox and hearing this news, really made me shake my head.
If I am a parent, I will not allow my kids to like Roblox / Fortnite / any popular stuffs with a risk of NSFW contents behind and I will explain the reason behind the prohibition.
Bloody hell... just watched the video in the tweet. Ugly stuff, but esp. in a game marketed at kids.
I know times change but it is frighteningly sad that kids into gaming are now growing up with this trash compared to the likes of Super Mario that we had. Worrying times
Been pretty openly full of nonces for years. Yet nothing gets done.
This is awful (and ultimately unsurprising given Roblox is essentially the Wild West), but kudos to PS for also pointing out that this is also a short-selling group who are doing this because there will be money to be made, not because they are altruistic social justice champions. They likely primarily see an investment opportunity in tanking a company’s share price.
@SheerDisappointment just wonder why they changed their minds. Roblox obviously aren't fixing the problem.
From a pure money standpoint, kids don’t have a lot of money, whereas adults do. In a capitalist run society, easier to lie than share the truth.
Roblox aside, companies that intentionally release reports like this to manipulate stock prices, just to short them, seem like the filthiest companies.
To me this article reads as "shyster investment company releases exaggerated report to intentionally deflate value of stocks of questionable videogame company, to short stocks and make money".
And rather than question why an investment firm went through the trouble to write a report in the first place, everyone focuses on the report, helping the investment firm drive down the stock value and make more money off of the devalued stock, because that's the thing with shorting stocks - Hinderburh Research WILL BUY STOCKS IN ROBLOX AGAIN ONCE THEY'RE LOWER, despite releasing a report to make everyone think the platform shouldn't exist!
I am not even remotely surprised about this, honestly (and sadly)...
Roblox: If LEGO was a meth addict on a sex offenders register.
@colonelkilgore It's sadly a well known fact. There are many documentary vids on youtube and one such content creator was even dmcad by roblox if I remember correctly. It's really sick
My soon to be 9 year old loves roblox. Secret to safety is limiting communications. She plays on xbox with no access to chat. She facetimes with her preapproved friends instead via he ipad.
Leaving your child free to roam on roblox is bad, banning it for all would be equally bad.
Most days in my tesco stores we are constantly selling Roblox cards, I don't doubt it popularity at all. I also don't trust reports from what I consider the scum of wall street.
@ZeroSum They probably place bets on the share price falling already, short sellers like these guys are crooks. Fact is Roblox is ridiculous profitable and unlike Epic, isn't using the money from it to fund other projects and parts of the studio alive. I bet they are sitting on a mountain of cash, in fact they got a money pile of nearly 3bn.
@knowles2 At the very least you should trust the pedo grooming part. It's certainly true from what I know.
I will only let my child play games I've bought like Astro Bot, Lego Star Wars, Hogwarts Legacy etc. I will only let them watch stuff unattended on iPlayer. I will explain my reasons to them why I don't want them to watch certain things so they they understand it's not just because I'm being an *****.
Developers and publishers don't care, Roblox is making them too much money. Parents who let their kids free-reign on this rubbish also don't care either as it keeps them quiet.
Right OK well most of you lot haven't had as many children as I have so I'll let you all know.
The kids don't even check the chat or anything like that out.
90% of the games are pretty bland and the kids like them. They aren't being made to buy anything and roblox has it set so you can't buy anything without knowledge first.
There are actually some great games within the service.
I've played a theme park game with free build, a prison free form builder, a complex lumberjack game. A retail Tycoon game free build,
It's actually a very good platform for younger kids.
Yea it needs more security from roblox for stuff like that.
But the core of the game is very basic and a very good introduction to gaming.
And we are adults so we view the world in a whole other way. Kids don't care they jump into a game have a go and jump out.
Great game
Sounds like muskrat social/twitter.
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