Keeping young people safe online

Being a parent or caregiver in the age of the internet is immensely challenging. Parents today must have a foot in each of two worlds – the in-person world and the online world – when thinking about the safety and wellbeing of their kids. The online world can be a particularly scary place, especially when it comes to how easy it can be for strangers to interact with children online.

Recently, the video game platform Roblox has been in the news for some very frightening incidents involving children. Roblox is an online gaming platform where users can create online games as well as play them. Of the 89 million daily active users on Roblox, 40% are under the age of 12. For years, Roblox has been criticized for its lack of protection measures for children, with stories of kids being able to access adult-only content, being contacted by adult strangers posing as children, and being victims of harassment and sexual exploitation by adults on the platform. All while Roblox has marketed itself as a family-friendly service where kids can exercise their creativity and play games.

Roblox has been criticized for pursuing profit over the safety of their most vulnerable users – the most tragic endpoint of the kind of enshittification we’ve seen across all sorts of online platforms. Even gamer parents, the ones that grew up during the moral panic around gaming in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, have talked about prohibiting their own kids from using the platform because of ongoing negligence and the too-little-too-late introduction of child safety features and parental controls.

For the caregivers of the roughly 39 million children using the platform, this kind of news is no doubt terrifying. Even if, as the company claims, the majority of children have a safe and enriching experience using Roblox, the possibility that a child could be harmed by someone online can be enough to want to just pull the plug on any kind of online activity for their kids whatsoever. However, while keeping kids completely offline is a choice, it doesn’t necessarily work for all families and isn’t necessarily the choice that will prepare kids for adulthood in an online world. Thankfully, there are some really good resources out there that can help guide parents through keeping their kids safe online.

The first challenge caregivers have is just keeping up. Previewing online platforms before letting your kids use them is one way to do this but can also be a daunting time commitment and learning curve. Common Sense Media (CommonSense.org) is an excellent resource for parents to find expert reviews and recommended ages for movies, television shows, social media platforms, books, and games. Their information also includes suggestions for age-appropriate conversations to have with your children, a breakdown of major concerns with the platform, and a summary of what parents need to know. Common Sense Media is a subscription-based service, but does allow 3 free reviews per month, and has a YouTube channel where some reviews may be found for free.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (ProtectChildren.ca) has a number of resources for parents including information on age-specific risks of online activities, what parents can do about these risks, and educational resources for kids and youth. The site also links to crisis resources that are available for kids and youth who have been harmed online including NeedHelpNow.ca and Cybertip.ca. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is a nonprofit organization whose partners include the Government of Canada, major Canadian internet service providers, as well as international child protection groups.

A recent article from Penn State University suggests that parents playing online games with their children, as well as siblings and friends playing online games together, can help form a sort of safety net. This reinforces the idea that online safety can be bolstered by offline community. A network of safe adults, family and peers can help identify when online hazards like scamming, exploitation, and abuse are occurring, and can intervene and support kids if they encounter these online dangers. This removes the isolation factor that predators rely on.

Children’s online safety should not be the sole responsibility of parents. However, because companies like Roblox (which made over $1 billion in revenue last quarter) have prioritized profit and neglected the safety of their users, it ultimately falls to parents to fill that gap. Thankfully, parents are not alone and there are resources to help them and their kids navigate a hazardous online world. But as a society, whether we have our own kids or not, we need to demand that tech companies take on their fair share of the responsibility for keeping people safe online, especially kids.

Learn more

Remap Radio Commentary on Roblox 2025. Remap Radio (Bluesky) Last accessed 2025/09/02

Sibling and friend game time key to keeping children safe in online video games 2025. Francisco Tutella (Penn State University) Last accessed 2025/09/02

Resources & Research: Online Safety (Protectchildren.ca) Last accessed 2025/09/02

Risks to children playing Roblox ‘deeply disturbing’, say researchers 2025. Libby Brooks and Jedidajah Otte (The Guardian) Last accessed 2025/09/02

Is Roblox safe for kids? 2025. Richie Koch (Proton) Last accessed 2025/09/02

What Roblox’s safety updates mean for its users 2025. Sara M. Grimes (The Conversation) Last accessed 2025/09/02

Lawsuit Alleges Roblox Hosted Digital 'Diddy Freak-Off' Themed Games 2025. Matthew Gault (404media) Last accessed 2025/09/02

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Roblox launches IP licensing platform, partners with Netflix, Lionsgate 2025. (Reuters) Last accessed 2025/09/02

What is Roblox? 2023. Common Sense Media for Families (YouTube) Last accessed 2025/09/02

Roblox Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results 2025. (Roblox) Last accessed 2025/09/02

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