Online child safety campaigners call for US inquiry into Roblox

Groups claim game platform’s design and business model conflict with children’s developmental needs

Online child safety campaigners including Jonathan Haidt, the bestselling writer on the mental health impacts of social media, have called on the Trump administration to investigate Roblox, the booming gaming and chat platform used by 150 million people daily, including a large number of under-13s.

Haidt’s Anxious Generation Movement, Fairplay and the rightwing anti-pornography National Center on Sexual Exploitation are among groups claiming Roblox’s design and business model conflict with children’s developmental needs.