Sunday saw dozens of Russians protesting in the Siberian City of Tomsk against the country’s ban on the U.S.-native children’s gaming platform Roblox.
The defiant act is making headlines because it has been tagged a rare show of public dissent as more citizens show their displeasure over the ban.
Why did Russia ban Roblox?
Censorship in Russia is nothing new, especially during wartime. Moscow has been known to block or restrict social media platforms while distributing its own narrative via a network of social media and Russian media.
This time, the censorship concerns Roblox, a gaming platform that lets players create and share their own games. The platform stopped loading for most Russians earlier this month, after which the media regulator Roskomnadzor confirmed it had restricted access, accusing Roblox of hosting “extremist materials” and “LGBT propaganda.”
The regulator also said Roblox’s moderation system enabled the spread of content that could “negatively affect the spiritual and moral development of children.”
Many from Tomsk, 2,900 km (1,800 miles) east of Moscow, clearly disagree, which is why several dozens of people ignored the cold and snow to hold up hand-drawn placards reading “Hands off Roblox” and “Roblox is the victim of the digital Iron Curtain” in Vladimir Vysotsky Park, according to photographs provided by an organizer of the protest.
The ban on Roblox has now triggered a debate over censorship, child safety in relation to technology, and the effectiveness of censorship in the modern world, where children can bypass many bans in a few clicks.
Russians have always been able to circumvent bans by using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), and some young Russians have questioned the logic of a ban that can be so easily bypassed. Others have questioned why there are so few Russian alternatives to the apps that the state has banned.
Among Russian parents and teachers, there were concerns that Roblox was helping children access sexual content and communicate with adults. However, the company has responded to the ban by sharing a statement that reiterates its commitment to safety and providing “rigorous built-in protections to help keep users safe”.
Russian officials are adamant that censorship is a necessity to defend against a sophisticated “information war” being perpetrated by Western powers, and to protect citizens from what they have tagged decadent Western culture, which undermines “traditional” Russian values.
Some of the things that fall under that decadent tag include extremist views that encourage violence and anarchy, as well as LGBT content and child pornography.
Response to the ban has been unprecedented
Russia is not the first country to ban Roblox. The company, which is headquartered in San Mateo, California, has been banned by several countries, including Iraq and Turkey, over similar concerns of predators exploiting the platform to abuse children.
Other than the physical protest, there have also been online campaigns from millions of Russians, primarily children and teenagers, who have been making video petitions asking the ban to be repealed.
In fact, according to the Kremlin’s secretary, they went as far as inundating the presidential administration with numerous messages from children who were criticizing the decision.
Most users have expressed frustration over being cut off from their online communities and losing access to in-game items they had purchased in the past. There are even reports that cited a pro-Kremlin advocate receiving tens of thousands of letters from children, with some reportedly expressing a desire to leave Russia over the loss of the platform.
While most of the protests have been because of the Roblox ban, the app was not the only social media platform the Russian Government has banned.
Other services like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and FaceTime have also been blocked recently as part of a wider campaign by Russian authorities to tighten control over foreign technology platforms under the pretext of national security and public morality.
Some Russian officials have spoken up publicly about the ban, publicly criticizing it. Yekaterina Mizulina, head of the Kremlin-aligned Safe Internet League, is one such person. According to her, since the restrictions were imposed, “every second child” aged 8–16 had written to her saying they wanted to leave Russia. She posted screenshots of what she said were messages from young gamers expressing anger over the loss of Roblox.
The company has cooperated with Russian regulators in the past, removing several games in 2025 that featured LGBT characters or symbols after complaints from Roskomnadzor. However, after this ban, it is unclear what comes next.
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Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/russians-protest-roblox-ban/
