Turkey has banned the children’s video game Roblox over reports of inappropriate sexual content spreading across the platform. This restriction comes just after the country banned Instagram on August 2nd, 2024.
Turkey’s decision to ban Roblox was due to inappropriate content, which was perceived as a form of child exploitation, a Directorate of Communications official said.
Alongside child exploitation, Roblox supposedly hosted virtual gatherings that promoted pedophilia, local media reported.
The game's currency, Robux, was distributed by bots and encouraged children to participate in inappropriate activities.
The country eventually chose to ban Roblox as it noticed challenges in monitoring and regulating harmful content on the platform.
Although little more information was provided on the Roblox restriction, it’s not unusual for Turkey to ban popular platforms.
Instagram was recently banned in the country, and the restrictions were initiated on August 2nd, 2024, just after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh on July 31st, 2024. He was a key official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
According to various media outlets, Instagram supposedly censored posts that expressed condolences for those grieving the death of Haniyeh.
As of August 8th, 2024, the ban was still going strong, with officials, such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling Instagram’s censorship “digital fascism,” ABC News reported.
“They cannot even tolerate photographs of Palestinian martyrs and immediately ban them,” Erdogan said at a human rights event. “We are confronted with a digital fascism that is disguised as freedom."
Turkey allegedly banned Meta’s social media platform in response to this censorship. However, the country did not explicitly state why the ban had been implemented.
Following the ban, reports of VPN troubles in the country urged one group to investigate. The Freedom of Expression Association (IFOD) curated a list of 27 VPN providers that had supposedly been blocked in Turkey.
These include well-known brands like Nord VPN, Surfshark, and Express VPN.
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