Roblox exposing young children to Nazi and jihadist propaganda, report finds

The study found that Roblox users engaged with “playable recreations of mass shootings”, as well as content glorifying Nazism and supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are proscribed terror groups in the UK.

Experts examined 350 posts and profiles on the platform, 175 of which were coded as far-right or featuring right-wing extremist material.

The offending material identified fell into four categories: usernames, user-generated items, group chats and user-created games.

In the first instance, usernames with extremist references were deliberately misspelt to evade Roblox’s AI-assisted moderation processes.

Codes such as 88 were widespread, corresponding to the position of the letter H in the alphabet, symbolising code for “Heil Hitler”. Other notable usernames that eluded moderators included “Atolf Zitler” and “JoesphGoebbel”.

Extremist experiences included far-right slurs such as “lolocaust”, a blend of the internet slang for “laughing out loud” and the Holocaust.

Several groups spreading racist ideology were additionally discovered, including one with more than 1,000 members using “Honk Honk” as code for “Heil Hitler”.

User-generated items called to attention were predominantly custom shirts worn by in-game avatars bearing extremist slogans, flags and symbols – including the Reichskriegsflagge (imperial war flag) widely used by far-right extremists in Germany.

Other shirts displayed the emblem of the Islamic State, Houthi propaganda in English and Arabic, and demonstrated overt support for Hamas and Hezbollah.

One shirt was titled “houthi_propaganda”. Another displayed a picture of Anne Frank and read “This is Kanye West", referencing the US rapper, now known as Ye, who has previously identified himself as a “Nazi”. These shirts have since been removed from the platform.

Fifty-two posts contained Islamist content, 48 championed Salafism – a fundamentalist Islamic revivalist movement – and eight displayed jihadist content and an affinity to ISIS. Examples included profiles referencing Abu Obeida – a Hamas spokesman – while others, such as houthiqueen25, claimed affiliation to the Islamist militant group in Yemen.

Antisemitic games, created for use on the platform, were also discovered, including nods to Nazi concentration camps and contemporary references to the Israel-Gaza War. In one, users were encouraged to play as Palestinian terrorists perpetrating atrocities against Israelis.

In response, Roblox highlighted its “considerable efforts to curb extremism” and said that, as well as using AI to review content, it had “a dedicated team of investigators who proactively look for signals of violative content”.

It added: “No system is perfect, but as a result of the effectiveness of our teams and technology, it is very unlikely that someone would stumble upon these types of experiences or content. We also appreciate the support of the community and trusted flaggers in reporting anything they see that makes them uncomfortable, or that could be in breach of our standards.”