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Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions and an image of hate speech found on Roblox servers and could be causing some readers.

In Roblox, one of the largest online games platforms, users come together to play, create and be themselves in a virtual world, but some could be there for a more insidious purpose: to expose young people to hate speech.

“Aerosol painting players!” – A popular game in Roblox, with more than one billion visits, in which players skate and create graffiti art in a virtual Skatepark configuration, can avoid moderation by painting in spray the hate messages on the walls, ramps and other virtual games configurations, found a CBS news investigation.

CBS News documented dozens of swastika and at least a dozen instances of hate discourse aimed at minority groups through aerosol painting! Servers, which house multiplayer games. There are millions of games in Roblox where players can join servers to play with friends and strangers.

What is happening in “Aerosol painting!” It is not uncommon or surprising. Roblox currently has at least 18 active demands awaiting the entire country due to the inappropriate content in his games, he told CBS News, lawyer Matthew Dolman, whose signature represents people in cases against Roblox.

Roblox said in a statement sent by email to CBS News that its 24/7 moderation system closely monitors the platform, and that the company takes “fast action against any content or users that are in violation.”

However, hate speech still appears in Roblox Games, such as Aerosol painting, found CBS News. “Three minutes after arriving there for the first time, I also saw a swastika,” said Rachel Franz, director of the Childhood Defense Program in the Non -profit Fairplaythat advocates for the online safety of children.

Hate can run unbridled in several Roblox games. A group called Active Shoots Studios Recreates school shootings In Columbine, Uvalde and Parkland and constantly evade efforts to eliminate recreations, the anti-defamation league found in April report. A demand Filed this month Alleges that Roblox organized hundreds of games with Sean “Diddy” themes, as well as more than 900 user accounts registered in Roblox with variations of the name of the sentenced sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Roblox is fully aware that these experiences permeate their application, and allows them to continue existing without control despite the ability to control them or eliminate them,” the demand alleges, and said that the effects on children can be devastating.

Last week, the attorney general of Louisiana, Liz Murrill, filed a claim for child protection against the platform.

“Roblox is invaded by harmful content and children Press release. “All parents must be aware of the clear and present danger that Roblox raises for their children so that they can prevent the unthinkable from happening in their own home.”

In a statement to CBS News, Roblox said: “We share the urgency of Attorney General Murrill to help keep children safe because security has always been our priority,” he added that he hopes to work with Murrill to help keep the children safe.

“We share the critical objective of keeping children safe online and any statement otherwise is categorically false,” said Roblox’s statement. “We stay at the highest level and work constantly to eliminate rape content and bad actors.”

What children are they found with

The predators can Troll Roblox, experts say, and other similar game platforms, to recruit young players for extremist groups or possibly sexual exploitation.

Children and adolescents represent more than half of Roblox players, and about 40% of players are under 13, according to a presentation of the Commission of Securities and Securities of the United States of 2024. Roblox attracts an average of 97.8 million daily active users.

“If you are a predator, it is very clear that there are opportunities to access vulnerable people on these platforms,” ​​Franz said.

When children play spray paint! Game, they could see insults aimed at blacks and phrases such as “KKK” and “Jewish” recorded in graffiti on virtual brick walls. On a server, there were more than 14 instances of this speech, found CBS News, as well as a reference to the “third Reich”.

The phrase “I can’t breathe”, the words pronounced by George Floyd, who died in 2020 In police custody by an officer later convicted of murder, he was written through a virtual brick wall on a server. Some servers had graphic sexual drawings, and in another, there was an instance of suicidal language, according to CBS News.

Roblox’s chat function, available in some games, has a filtering system that prevents inappropriate content, such as discriminatory speech, is visible, but in spray paint! Players can ignore the filtering mechanisms scribbling the text through the painting function of the game instead of writing in the chat, where the content is filtered.

Users must enter their birthday when creating a Roblox account, but the platform does not require authentication, which means that adults can pose since children and children can pose as older than they really are. Children can talk with other players through the voice chat function, which has a minimum age requirement of 13, but does not require age verification.

Roblox says that the company has implemented what calls a “trusted flagger program”, where trusted partners can inform “terrorist content” in an effort to take energetic measures against hate messages.

Roblox too says On its website, this content loaded to incorporate the games is evaluated in a several steps review process to detect child sexual abuse and other inappropriate content. If you identify as a fodder for possible child sexual abuse, Roblox says that the National Center for missing and exploited children is automatically informed, a non -profit organization that focuses on finding missing children and reducing child exploitation.

Roblox has developed An artificial intelligence system that, according to the company, helped submit approximately 1,200 reports of possible attempts for child exploitation to NCMEC, and last year, Roblox presented 24,522 reports to NCMEC in general.

Roblox says he has a human review team that continuously evaluates the games marked and encourages users to inform about the activity. Aerosol painting! Players have the option of playing in “safe mode”, which allows them to see only the art created by other players who are on their list of “friends” in the application.

A Roblox spokesman told CBS News in a statement sent by email that “although no system is perfect”, the company has implemented safeguards that include “restrictions to share personal information, links and share user images to user, as well as content maturity. [l]Abels and parental controls. ”

“We share with our community the critical objective of keeping all online insurance and ensuring that users have positive experiences in Roblox that are aligned with our strict community standards,” the statement said, and added: “We continually innovate to deter the bad actors and have launched more than 50 security features since last year.”

Despite the efforts to curb extremism and guidance of young players, experts and CBS News found that protections are still easy to cancel.

“There is a broader issue of how regulas and moderates something that is supposed to encourage creativity and freedom of expression, but in reality it ends up introducing some really insecure and truly harmful and unpleasant practices,” Franz said.

A double -edged sword

Accusations in several cases suggest that Roblox has also been used to exploit adolescents and children. A teenager from Florida was arrested In April, for allegedly attacking children in Roblox, where he would demand child sexual abuse about text messages or the Discord messaging platform. In Texas, a lawsuit Archive in April he alleges that a 13 -year -old girl was sexually prepared and exploited in Roblox and later, Discord. Roblox has recently been beaten by a series of demands with similar claims. Dolman said his company currently has seven cases and is investigating 400 more. Another signature filed A lawsuit earlier this month against Roblox and Discord that represents more than 400 people.

A man in California It was arrested In April, about kidnapping and inappropriate sexual behavior positions in relation to a 10 -year -old boy, it is believed that it was known through Roblox. Last year, a woman in Florida It was arrested For allegedly using Roblox to instruct a 10 -year -old boy who kills a baby by dropping the 2 -month -old boy on a floor of tiles. The baby was seriously injured.

When a response to the demands was asked, Roblox said in an email that the company is “deeply concerned” for any incident that endangers its users, pointing out that security is a priority.

“Roblox undertakes to empower parents and caregivers to help guarantee a safe online experience for their children.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced in April that he issued a citation To Roblox.

“There are worrying reports that this game platform, which is popular among children, exposes them to harmful content and bad actors,” he said in a press release. “We are issuing a citation to Roblox to discover how this platform is to market children and see what policies are implementing, if you have any, to avoid interactions with predators.”

Open world games such as Spray Paint!, Where users can travel a virtual space in relative anonymity, can be a double -edged sword. Doris Chang, a psychologist And associated professor at the Silver School of Social Work from the University of New York, he says that these spaces can affirm us for the young queer.

“They can be whoever they want. Gender fluidity is really common,” said Chang, adding that he can also put those groups at risk of speech of hate and predatory people.

“You are only interacting with people with whom you would not interact. It is completely open,” Chang said.

Chang said that when children play a game like Aerosol painting! Without parents’ supervision, they can have to navigate problematic scenarios that could be confused or annoying.

“It exceeds the broader question about how much parents know about what their children are exposed online,” he said. “In general terms, Roblox is just a corner of the Internet that our children are sailing.”