TL;DRRussia restored access to Roblox after banning it in December over “inappropriate content.” The reversal followed 63,000 complaint letters from children, half saying they wanted to leave the country.
Russia restored access to Roblox on Wednesday after concluding the company had complied with local legal requirements, the Interfax news agency reported. The gaming platform had been blocked since December 3, cutting off an estimated 18 million monthly users, most of them children and teenagers.
The Digital Ministry said Roblox had implemented “a comprehensive set of measures to further protect children” and committed to combating “the spread of inappropriate content on the platform.” Under the agreement, Russian users will be sorted into age-specific categories, including Roblox Kids for ages five to eight and Roblox Select for ages nine to 15.
63,000 letters
The ban triggered one of the more unusual protest campaigns in recent Russian history. Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the Kremlin-aligned Safe Internet League, said she received 63,000 letters from children aged eight to 16, with half expressing a desire to leave the country.
