Indonesian parents back Roblox ban plan over child safety concerns | #childsafety | #kids | #chldern | #parents | #schoolsafey

Multiple videos circulating online show Roblox gameplay featuring sexually suggestive behavior and adult-themed roleplay. For parents like Lili Setiawan from Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta, this was enough to cut his seven-year-old daughter Aisyah off from the game entirely.

“The last time I checked, she was playing with our 21-year-old neighbor,” Lili said on Sunday, recalling the moment earlier this month when he decided to ban his daughter from the game. “From that day on, I’ve prohibited her from playing Roblox.”

The risk of her daughter interacting with much older players and being exposed to harmful content prompted him to restrict Aisyah to offline games on her phone.

Dewi, a mother from Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, made a similar decision for her 10-year-old son.

“I’m afraid that I could not fully monitor his screentime, especially on Roblox. That’s why now I try to limit him from playing any kind of online games,” she said.

Read also: Govt warns children, parents against ‘violent’ Roblox

Launched in 2006, Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system, where users can play games and other online activities designed by others, often called “experiences”. The platform hosts user-created “experiences”, ranging from original games, to activities based on famous television shows and virtual social handouts.

Statista reports that in the second quarter of 2025, children aged 13 or younger spent a combined 9 billion hours on the platform, while older users contributed twice that amount. According to Roblox’s official website, those under 13 require parental permission to access certain features.

The game has surged in popularity among children and teenagers in Indonesia, who gather in virtual maps modeled after real-world locations like Mount Bromo in East Java. On Aug. 3, Bandung-based punk band Dongker even staged a Roblox concert, drawing 200 users whose avatars formed a virtual mosh pit.

Some online extracurricular programs use Roblox to teach children programming, coding and game design. However, officials have voiced concerns over violent content and inadequate filtering.

Most recently, Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu’ti labeled Roblox harmful for children, warning that its violent gameplay could “trigger violence in children’s daily lives.”

Stronger safeguards

Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) commissioner Aris Adi Leksono welcomed the proposed ban, but urged broader measures.

“Not only Roblox, but all games that contain elements of violence, whether verbal or non-verbal, should have access restricted to children,” he said, adding that companies violating child safety should face legal sanctions.

Child and family psychologist Sani Budiantini Hermawan warned that repeated exposure to violent or sexualized content can lead children to normalize such behavior, stressing that a ban alone would not solve the problem.

“Parental guidance is needed. They need to know what games their children are playing and the impacts,” she added.

The proposed ban, however, has faced resistance from groups like the Indonesian Roblox Community Association (AKRI), which has over 340,000 members.

Co-founder Lilik Adi Ribowo argued that blocking the game may harm local developers, particularly since they have been working with the government to support public campaigns, such as one offering the virtual tour of the country’s future capital of Nusantara in East Kalimantan.

“In my view, blocking Roblox is not the right solution,” Lilik said.