Children's game Roblox features Nazi death camps and Holocaust imagery

German flags fly alongside an iron cross above chambers labelled “gas room” and a blazing pyre of dead bodies. However, this is not historical footage from a Nazi death camp but Roblox, a computer game hugely popular with schoolchildren worldwide. Some users have created a virtual concentration camp experience - including a room in which players can click “execute” to release deadly gas from showerheads, the Mail on Sunday has revealed. It said a reporter was able to access cell blocks and lock themselves in to “experience” the plight of prisoners in the German camps. A section of railway appears to mimic the approach to Auschwitz-Birkenau, while avatars dressed in “Nazi uniforms” stand watch. Roblox is an online platform that allows users to create their own games and play those created by others. Its interactive nature has made it hugely popular. As of August 2020, it had over 164 million monthly active users. It’s also one of the most popular children’s games in the world. But the platform has recently come under fire for hosting explicit content. “Condo” parties featuring strippers, bondage costumes, and avatars having sex have also been found in the game, according to the BBC. Larry Magid, president of ConnectSafely, told the broadcaster: "Roblox is a platform that is very popular among children, and allows children under 13, so it has a special responsibility to protect its users." Tanya Carter, of the Safe Schools Alliance campaign group, told the Mail on Sunday: “We are horrified to hear of Nazi rooms featuring dead bodies and gas chambers. “This is particularly disturbing in a climate of rising antisemitism.” In a statement, Roblox said: “We have zero tolerance for content or behaviours that promote or glorify extremism, including anti-semitism. "We have removed the experiences in question and permanently banned the individuals who created them from our platform. We work tirelessly to maintain a platform that is safe, civil and inclusive, and we use a combination of manual and automated detection tools to swiftly remove experiences that do not comply with our Community Standards. "We are committed to preventing this type of content from being uploaded to our platform, remove it as soon as we learn about it, and take appropriate steps against those who have uploaded the content. "In tandem with our efforts, we encourage anyone to report content or behaviour that may promote extremism using our Report Abuse feature, and we have a dedicated team of thousands who act on those reports.”

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