What is happening: The banning of Roblox in Russia, and a call from Roblox to have the ban removed

In the early part of December 2025, the communications overseer in Russia, Roskomnadzor, restricted users’ access to Roblox, a U.S.-based games development platform used chiefly by minors. The reasons cited by the Russian Government were protection of minors from harmful content on the platform.
Reuters

Following the block, Roblox publicly indicated that they are working to reverse the ban and have informed the Russian government that they are willing to accommodate certain changes to platform functions in order to comply with Russian legal standards—namely including temporarily limiting the functions of communication and reworking content moderation policies.

This is important, as a readiness to make compromises is not common, particularly when it comes to foreign popular platforms that have faced restrictions or blocking on Russian Internet resources, as is the case under wartime conditions.

Why Russia believes it blocked Roblox
Why Roblox

The ban was expressed by Roskomnadzor with a focus on childcare. According to Reuters news, the Russian stance was that Roblox was “full of improper content,” which was capable of having a negative impact on children’s spiritual and moral development.

Other sources have described Russia’s specific concerns in the following larger bucket that seems to crop up in these kinds of Russian internet law cases: extremist content, forbidden topics, and child grooming/exploitation or other kinds of use. For instance, sources mentioned mention of extremet/child-grooming/propaganda-type concerns mentioned in connection with the block.

There is an important underlying paradox which one needs to keep in mind:

Roblox operates on the concept of user-generated content: it is not Roblox but users who create most games.

Social aspects also exist in the game, and they include chat functionality, messages, groups, parties, friends,

These two ingredients: UGC and social interaction, are the same risk factors that regulators are concerned about in children: inappropriate content, manipulation, harassment, or communication attempts that move outside of the platform.

Thus, even if Roblox has strong moderation and safety measures, a regulator can claim that the scale of the platform and the nature of the creation/communication process make it difficult to do so to perfection, especially if the jurisdiction allows less flexibility.

The response of the general public within Russia: street protesting and cyber outrage

Indeed, what may be one of the most interesting perspectives in this case is that the ban on Roblox did not merely cause online gripe; instead, it precipitated a public protest.

On the 14th of December 2025, a few dozen people assembled in Tomsk (Siberia) holding homemade signs with messages of opposition to the ban. According to Reuters, it’s a “rare display of defiance in Russia.” These homemade signs contained messages including “Hands off Roblox” and “Roblox is the victim of the digital Iron Curtain.”
Reuters

Why should the presence of a gaming platform lead to any action on the streets?

Roblox is a fun platform, and at the same time, it is a community place

In some families, it is also used as a learning tool, where concepts related to basic gameplay or even coding are explored.

“Blocking it may feel less like “policy” and more like a direct blow to life as well as to Facebook’s business model as well as users—particularly younger users with limited other social spaces.”

In some cases, there was also reporting on children and teens speaking out to officials directly about their frustration, and on how some bans are oftentimes dodged with use of VPNs.

Roblox’s reaction: “We’ll adjust features” (what this means most likely is

The essence of the message in Roblox’s statement was very pragmatic – it wants to continue communicating with Roskomnadzor and is prepared to tweak some of the service functionality in order to comply. Specifically, Roblox mentioned:

Restricting communication capabilities temporarily

Revamping Content Moderation for Compliance

Ongoing dialogue: “further compliance”
pave the way for ongoing

These are general-sounding concepts, but in product language, they tend to break down into a pretty specific list of levers. Taking a general look at what kind of demands regulators seem to be making regarding UGC platforms targeting youth, a possible reading of the “changes” at Roblox might include any combination of the following:

1) Restricting communication via chat and in direct communication (most immediate)

If the suspected risk is grooming, harassment, or adult contact with the minor, the easiest thing the regulatory authority can do is minimize the number of communication routes. This might involve:

some kinds of chatty software,

limiting DMs,

restricting who can message whom,

disabling certain social discovery functions,

or raising the default rules for youths.

Roblox actively suggested that it might restrict communication functionality – this is one instance that fits the pattern.

2) More aggressive moderation and takedown tools

“Revamping moderation” may include:

faster removal times,

expanded moderation coverage for the local language,

enhanced the detection of prohibited content categories,

“stronger enforcement against repeat offenders,”

or enhanced manual review for high-risk content.

Roblox announced that it would overhaul moderation for compliance.

3) Local mechanisms for compliance

Some nations nudge platforms towards following local initiatives such as:

easier channel for regulator notifications,

a local point-of-contact,

a clearer appeals process within the country,

or enforced according to their respective national laws.

Whether Roblox follows up on these in the Russian case or not cannot be ascertained from the reporting above, but these are the usual “compliance package” features worldwide—notably for platforms facing direct regulator pressure.

4) Age gating / strenge Schutznormen für Jugend

Regulators may also require platforms to enhance ‘age-appropriate experiences’, particularly when a platform supports content ranging from kids-friendly to teen/older content. Enhancements to age gating are usually a common approach, but this is subject to variation based on the supporting architecture and jurisdiction.

The key takeaway: Roblox is giving the signal that it is willing to make changes to the experience that Russian players have (at least for the moment) if that means coming back online.

Why this negotiation is different (and why Roblox may have an incentive)

Russia has been tightening its grip on the internet for years, with blockages and restrictions applying to major foreign platforms. In light of that, “reversible” obstruction applies not to any foreign platform.

But why might a Roblox want an accommodation?

Reasons related to business and community
Roblox’s business model is built on large and engaged communities. Although a large number of users could circumvent the blocks using VPNs, the use of VPNs is a hindrance to this.

In youth-saturated markets, even a little barrier (with slow-loading or unstable connectivity) can significantly lower engagement rates.

Reputational Reasons

“A ban on the basis of child protection could well create a reputational risk: even were Roblox to argue that it does not think the regulator’s allegations were just, it could find that it was banned for child protection reasons. Again, being open on moderation can help to manage this risk.”

Precedent and global operations

Roblox has been restricted or been banned in other countries over safety-related issues, so it has experience dealing with these kinds of conflicts. According to Reuters, Roblox has been previously banned in countries such as Iraq and Turkey.

Reuters

Russia’s agendas: child protection, regulation of content, and digital sovereignty—in combination

More than one reason can be legitimate at the same time:
“Sometimes there is a conflict

Real safety issues

Online communities like Roblox have been under constant global spotlight from time to time regarding child safety concerns. The regulators are aware of the fact that malicious individuals attempt to abuse every large children’s online platform.

General content enforcement

Sometimes Russian internet regulations will contain moral political categories (extremism, forbidden “propaganda” propaganda, and so forth). Coverage of the Roblox prohibition is mentioned within the framework of these enforcement themes.

The Washington Post

Digital sovereignty and foreign platform pressure

Russia’s strategy has been to use government power to maximize state influence in the capabilities offered by online services. When a popular service is blocked, it becomes difficult to resist their demands or offers a black market choice.

This “stacked” motivation can help explain why it matters that Roblox is open to an adjustment of its features in order to go back to its customers in Russia, because it might be that the Russian government sees it as an opportunity to prove a point about foreign sites bending to their will.

What may follow — A few likely scenarios

On the basis of information that has come out until now, a number of possibilities might exist:

Scenario A: Partial Repatriation with Fewer Features

Roskomnadzor may reconsider access if certain safety and compliance measures are put into place by Roblox, particularly regarding communication and moderation practices. This may see Russian citizens receive the return of Roblox, but with restricted communication/sociability aspects.

Scenario B: Talks are ongoing; no reversal at this stage

• “ROBLOX may continue negotiating with the Russian government, but the ban could continue until the Russian government decides ROBLOX improvements are credible and effective.”*
  Scenario C: A longer-term standoff (VPN workaround is “the norm”)
  O mesmo vale para o bloqueio, pois muitos usuários podem continuarmos usando VPNs. No entanto, existe uma realidade deuída

officially blocked, unofficially accessible, which is confusing for both law enforcement and family members.
This instance of racial transition could have Reuters has specifically emphasized that most Russians use VPNs to evade blocks, which has raised questions about the effectiveness of this type of censorship. Reuters Why this story is relevant outside Roblox Although it’s “about a game,” it’s also about how the online world functions today: Platforms have increasingly become a kind of social infrastructure, especially among the youths. Where children are involved, the authorities are increasingly ready to step in. The regulation of platforms such as UGC proves to be difficult since it is produced on a mass scale by people. When the platform is international,
Geopolitics and legal issues interact. The Roblox example illustrates just how important the next chapter in internet governance will be not only to online news media but also to youth environments, games, content economies, and online communities. Bottom line It was banned in Russia as of December 3, 2025, by the Russian government due to the safety of children and harmful content. But now, following public backlash and even a protest in Tomsk, Roblox states it has contacted Roskomnadzor and is ready to reduce communication functionality and change moderation to accommodate Russian standards to have the ban removed. Reuters +2 Reuters +2 It is up to whether Russia offers access to the platform, and it is dependent on how specific and politically acceptable the proposed changes of Roblox are.What is happening: The banning of Roblox in Russia, and a call from Roblox to have the ban removed

In the early part of December 2025, the communications overseer in Russia, Roskomnadzor, restricted users’ access to Roblox, a U.S.-based games development platform used chiefly by minors. The reasons cited by the Russian Government were protection of minors from harmful content on the platform.

Following the block, Roblox publicly indicated that they are working to reverse the ban and have informed the Russian government that they are willing to accommodate certain changes to platform functions in order to comply with Russian legal standards—namely including temporarily limiting the functions of communication and reworking content moderation policies.

This is important, as a readiness to make compromises is not common, particularly when it comes to foreign popular platforms that have faced restrictions or blocking on Russian Internet resources, as is the case under wartime conditions.

Why Russia believes it blocked Roblox

The ban was expressed by Roskomnadzor with a focus on childcare. According to Reuters news, the Russian stance was that Roblox was “full of improper content,” which was capable of having a negative impact on children’s spiritual and moral development.

Other sources have described Russia’s specific concerns in the following larger bucket that seems to crop up in these kinds of Russian internet law cases: extremist content, forbidden topics, and child grooming/exploitation or other kinds of use. For instance, sources mentioned mention of extremet/child-grooming/propaganda-type concerns mentioned in connection with the block.

There is an important underlying paradox which one needs to keep in mind:

Roblox operates on the concept of user-generated content: it is not Roblox but users who create most games.

Social aspects also exist in the game, and they include chat functionality, messages, groups, parties, friends,

These two ingredients: UGC and social interaction, are the same risk factors that regulators are concerned about in children: inappropriate content, manipulation, harassment, or communication attempts that move outside of the platform.

Thus, even if Roblox has strong moderation and safety measures, a regulator can claim that the scale of the platform and the nature of the creation/communication process make it difficult to do so to perfection, especially if the jurisdiction allows less flexibility.

The response of the general public within Russia: street protesting and cyber outrage

Indeed, what may be one of the most interesting perspectives in this case is that the ban on Roblox did not merely cause online gripe; instead, it precipitated a public protest.

On the 14th of December 2025, a few dozen people assembled in Tomsk (Siberia) holding homemade signs with messages of opposition to the ban. According to Reuters, it’s a “rare display of defiance in Russia.” These homemade signs contained messages including “Hands off Roblox” and “Roblox is the victim of the digital Iron Curtain.”
Reuters

Why should the presence of a gaming platform lead to any action on the streets?

Roblox is a fun platform, and at the same time, it is a community place

In some families, it is also used as a learning tool, where concepts related to basic gameplay or even coding are explored.

“Blocking it may feel less like “policy” and more like a direct blow to life as well as to Facebook’s business model as well as users—particularly younger users with limited other social spaces.”

In some cases, there was also reporting on children and teens speaking out to officials directly about their frustration, and on how some bans are oftentimes dodged with use of VPNs.

Roblox’s reaction: “We’ll adjust features” (what this means most likely is

The essence of the message in Roblox’s statement was very pragmatic – it wants to continue communicating with Roskomnadzor and is prepared to tweak some of the service functionality in order to comply. Specifically, Roblox mentioned:

Restricting communication capabilities temporarily

Revamping Content Moderation for Compliance

Ongoing dialogue: “further compliance”
pave the way for ongoing

These are general-sounding concepts, but in product language, they tend to break down into a pretty specific list of levers. Taking a general look at what kind of demands regulators seem to be making regarding UGC platforms targeting youth, a possible reading of the “changes” at Roblox might include any combination of the following:

1) Restricting communication via chat and in direct communication (most immediate)

If the suspected risk is grooming, harassment, or adult contact with the minor, the easiest thing the regulatory authority can do is minimize the number of communication routes. This might involve:

some kinds of chatty software,

limiting DMs,

restricting who can message whom,

disabling certain social discovery functions,

or raising the default rules for youths.

Roblox actively suggested that it might restrict communication functionality – this is one instance that fits the pattern.
Reuters

2) More aggressive moderation and takedown tools

“Revamping moderation” may include:

faster removal times,

expanded moderation coverage for the local language,

enhanced the detection of prohibited content categories,

“stronger enforcement against repeat offenders,”

or enhanced manual review for high-risk content.

Roblox announced that it would overhaul moderation for compliance.

3) Local mechanisms for compliance

Some nations nudge platforms towards following local initiatives such as:

easier channel for regulator notifications,

a local point-of-contact,

a clearer appeals process within the country,

or enforced according to their respective national laws.

Whether Roblox follows up on these in the Russian case or not cannot be ascertained from the reporting above, but these are the usual “compliance package” features worldwide—notably for platforms facing direct regulator pressure.

4) Age gating / strenge Schutznormen für Jugend

Regulators may also require platforms to enhance ‘age-appropriate experiences’, particularly when a platform supports content ranging from kids-friendly to teen/older content. Enhancements to age gating are usually a common approach, but this is subject to variation based on the supporting architecture and jurisdiction.

The key takeaway: Roblox is giving the signal that it is willing to make changes to the experience that Russian players have (at least for the moment) if that means coming back online.

Why this negotiation is different (and why Roblox may have an incentive)

Russia has been tightening its grip on the internet for years, with blockages and restrictions applying to major foreign platforms. In light of that, “reversible” obstruction applies not to any foreign platform.

But why might a Roblox want an accommodation?

Reasons related to business and community
Roblox’s business model is built on large and engaged communities. Although a large number of users could circumvent the blocks using VPNs, the use of VPNs is a hindrance to this.

In youth-saturated markets, even a little barrier (with slow-loading or unstable connectivity) can significantly lower engagement rates.

Reputational Reasons

“A ban on the basis of child protection could well create a reputational risk: even were Roblox to argue that it does not think the regulator’s allegations were just, it could find that it was banned for child protection reasons. Again, being open on moderation can help to manage this risk.”

Precedent and global operations

Roblox has been restricted or been banned in other countries over safety-related issues, so it has experience dealing with these kinds of conflicts. According to Reuters, Roblox has been previously banned in countries such as Iraq and Turkey.

Russia’s agendas: child protection, regulation of content, and digital sovereignty—in combination

More than one reason can be legitimate at the same time:
“Sometimes there is a conflict

Real safety issues

Online communities like Roblox have been under constant global spotlight from time to time regarding child safety concerns. The regulators are aware of the fact that malicious individuals attempt to abuse every large children’s online platform.

General content enforcement

Sometimes Russian internet regulations will contain moral political categories (extremism, forbidden “propaganda” propaganda, and so forth). Coverage of the Roblox prohibition is mentioned within the framework of these enforcement themes.

Digital sovereignty and foreign platform pressure

Russia’s strategy has been to use government power to maximize state influence in the capabilities offered by online services. When a popular service is blocked, it becomes difficult to resist their demands or offers a black market choice.

This “stacked” motivation can help explain why it matters that Roblox is open to an adjustment of its features in order to go back to its customers in Russia, because it might be that the Russian government sees it as an opportunity to prove a point about foreign sites bending to their will.

What may follow — A few likely scenarios

On the basis of information that has come out until now, a number of possibilities might exist:

Scenario A: Partial Repatriation with Fewer Features

Roskomnadzor may reconsider access if certain safety and compliance measures are put into place by Roblox, particularly regarding communication and moderation practices. This may see Russian citizens receive the return of Roblox, but with restricted communication/sociability aspects.

Scenario B: Talks are ongoing; no reversal at this stage

officially blocked, unofficially accessible, which is confusing for both law enforcement and family members.
This instance of racial transition could have Reuters has specifically emphasized that most Russians use VPNs to evade blocks, which has raised questions about the effectiveness of this type of censorship. Reuters Why this story is relevant outside Roblox Although it’s “about a game,” it’s also about how the online world functions today: Platforms have increasingly become a kind of social infrastructure, especially among the youths. Where children are involved, the authorities are increasingly ready to step in. The regulation of platforms such as UGC proves to be difficult since it is produced on a mass scale by people. When the platform is international,
Geopolitics and legal issues interact. The Roblox example illustrates just how important the next chapter in internet governance will be not only to online news media but also to youth environments, games, content economies, and online communities. Bottom line It was banned in Russia as of December 3, 2025, by the Russian government due to the safety of children and harmful content. But now, following public backlash and even a protest in Tomsk, Roblox states it has contacted Roskomnadzor and is ready to reduce communication functionality and change moderation to accommodate Russian standards to have the ban removed. Reuters +2 Reuters +2 It is up to whether Russia offers access to the platform, and it is dependent on how specific and politically acceptable the proposed changes of Roblox are.