Turkey Bans Roblox for ‘The Protection of Our Children’

The Turkish government recently took drastic steps to remove access to Roblox, completely removing access to the online platform. Here’s what happened and why.

What Caused Turkey to Ban Roblox Access

On August 7, 2024, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Türkiye Yılmaz TUNÇ took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to announce the Roblox ban, citing “the protection of our children,” according to the translation features of the platform.

This isn’t the first time that Roblox has come under fire for supposed “child labor” issues, with The Guardian reporting on this issue as far back as 2022. Reports of sexual predators using the program have also plagued Roblox for many years, with older users targeting the younger audiences that typically flock to the online haven.

On August 8, 2024, the Roblox team made a post on their official blog, which can be read here, stating:

“We are mindful that millions of people use our platform in Türkiye every day, including a vibrant community of developers whose businesses are built on Roblox. We’re committed to doing everything we can to keep our community safe, and we share global policymakers’ commitment to protecting children.”

Turkey is far from the first country to ban Roblox, with 6 other countries removing access to the platform well before this ban was put into place:

• China (December 2021)
• Guatemala
• Jordan
• North Korea
• Oman
• United Arab Emirates (May 2018)

Have Roblox Bans Ever Been Overturned?

With countries such as China claiming that Roblox is considered “anti-Communist propaganda,” it’s unlikely that the platform will ever see a return in this particular country. However, Jordan did successfully restore access to the Roblox platform, allowing players to once again visit their favorite virtual worlds.

While the ban may seem like doom and gloom for Turkish players, there is a chance that the Roblox corporation and the Turkish government could work out a deal to once again restore the ability to play the game. As it stands, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen overnight, but players holding out hope for the return of their favorite online platform may not need to wait forever.