The Australian Government’s Office of Cybersecurity (eSafety) has formally asked Roblox, Microsoft, Epic and Valve to elaborate on how their systems prevent the spread of child abuse and extremism. Established in 2015, the agency aims to combat the spread of undesirable content, such as youth cyberviolence and child abuse, and now has extended its supervision to protect all Australians from cyber-risks. According to eSafety’s bulletin, a legally binding transparency notice has been issued to the aforementioned companies in the light of reports that such platforms as Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnitte and Steam “are used by outlaws to seduce children, by extremist groups to spread violence and incite youth”.
In a statement, the Australian Cyber Security Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, stated: “We often see criminals who encounter minors in cyber games in private. Game platforms are one of the most frequently used cyberspace for Australian children, not only for entertainment but also for social spaces. According to our survey, approximately 90 per cent of Australian minors aged 8 to 17 have played online games.” Inman Grant further stressed that some misbelieving adults knew this well and “bred minors or targeted minors by embedding terrorism and violent extremism in the game. There has been extensive media coverage of all four platforms, where there have been cases of underage seduction and games on the subject of terrorism and violent extremism”. “These online games and play-related platforms are used by millions of children, and they must therefore take all possible measures to protect minors and continuously improve safety and security measures”, Inman Grant said. eSafety stated that transparency reporting was mandatory and that companies that failed to respond could face fines of up to $825 million per day.
“We welcome communication with cyber security agencies on this important subject. Roblox has put in place strict policies that prohibit any incitement, condonation, support, glorification or promotion of any terrorist or extremist organization or individual, and we spare no effort to implement those policies. Once such content has been discovered, we will quickly delete it and punish those who publish it.” In addition, we have used advanced AI technology to audit all pictures, text and images before content is published to prevent the publication of known extreme content. We encourage any user who sees suspicious content on Roblox to report to us. The team regularly cooperates with law enforcement, civil society and other organizations with specific expertise in combating violent extremism.” Last week, we announced that Roblox would soon launch a new age classification account for children under 16. These accounts will make content access, communication settings and parental control more compatible with the age of the user. While no system is perfect, our commitment to security never ceases, and we will continue to work closely with the Office of Cybersecurity to ensure the safety of Australian children.”
Kate McCormack, Senior Communications Manager of Epic Gomes, stated: “The islands mentioned in the report are in violation of our rules and we took action against them in 2024. Epic’s text filter will remove uncivilized language, including hate speech, and our system will automatically report potentially harmful interactions with players under the age of 18 when they talk to them.” “Forts Night has built protections for young players, including default high privacy settings for players under the age of 18, and for players under the age of 16 to open voice and text conversations with parental consent. Parents may use Epic’s parental control function to define the experience of the family, including choosing who the child can communicate with.”