The hidden social media apps buried inside Roblox games

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Children using Roblox have access to social media apps buried inside games, sparking warnings the popular online platform is dangerous, and should be swept up in the federal government’s crackdown.

As Australia’s world-first social media ban looms, experts warn gaming platforms such as Roblox have found a loophole, creating potentially thousands of clones of popular social media apps that exist unmoderated within their internal universe.

Children are being exposed to social media-style apps on Roblox, experts warn.

National eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said Roblox was “morphing into something more than online gaming” and she “worries about these features a lot”.

Cybersafety expert and former police officer Susan McLean said in-game social media “normalises and glamorises social media platforms”.

“You are playing a game, but within this game you have also got to share something on Snap, or DM your friends on Instagram – it is practice for the real thing,” she said.

What is Roblox?

The Roblox platform hosts thousands of games, most user-generated. These can operate like a Russian nesting doll, with each game containing a series of mini-games, all with their own universe, chat functions and features, including virtual phones loaded with cartoonish social media platforms. McLean said if a game, app or platform allowed communication and incorporated social media features, it should be included in the government’s restrictions.

This masthead explored dozens of Roblox role-playing games marketed as for children aged five and up. Almost all included virtual phones, loaded with apps knocking off Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.

This masthead explored a number of Roblox games with inbuilt social media like apps. In this one, reporters were sent sexualised images.

Roblox said it was not a social media platform but an “immersive gaming platform” and safety was its top priority.

While the content is cartoonish and does not allow children to share real images, experts say the cloned social media worlds damage children’s attention spans and can further social media and gaming addiction, while exposing children to harmful content.

Children using Roblox have access to social media apps buried inside games, sparking warnings the popular online platform poses dangers and should be swept up in the federal government’s crackdown.

Who is playing?

Roblox, which has 79 million daily users globally, was created to encourage children and young teens to code and think like entrepreneurs. Roblox says 64 per cent of users are aged 13 and over, making about one-third of users primary school aged, and it has become known as a hotspot for adults looking to abuse children.

While Australia is cracking down on Roblox, enforcing mandatory codes and standards that require it to act to tackle the worst online content and conduct, the social media apps in the games pose serious risks, Inman Grant said.

Many role playing games promote in-game social media apps.

“They are trying to introduce new kinds of services that look and feel like the other social media platforms – it’s just a way to create stickiness in the platform, even though I think it creates much more perils,” she said.

Inman Grant said the design was “dubious and devious”.

“It is concerning to see [these social media features] in platforms that may be exempted [from the social media ban],” she said, predicting Roblox would be a platform “kids will gravitate to” when the social media ban begins.

What do the experts say?

Clinical neuropsychology researcher Michoel Moshel, who specialises in the neuropsychological implications of disordered and problematic screen usage, said the impact of social media content was the same “whether it’s on traditional social media or whether it’s on a more gamified or different platform of social media”.

Screen and Gaming Disorder Clinic director Brad Marshall said games were using elements of persuasive design from social media to hook users, noting: “the minute you make any game social it’s a bigger dopamine hit”.

“The tech industry is homing in on what is the best formula for engagement, for addictiveness,” he said, comparing trying to choose a “healthy” Roblox game to searching for a “healthy lolly”.

“I know this is probably not what parents want to hear, but there is no Roblox game healthier than another. That’s why we need to focus on having healthy boundaries around gaming,” he said.

What did we find inside games?

Despite their cartoonish features, players can use in-game social media apps to share explicit content. While playing one game, this masthead’s reporters were sent an image via the in-game social media app of a Roblox character with her chest exposed.

In another game, called Clip It, designed to mimic TikTok, players within the game can watch short animated videos. A number featured violent messaging, including themes of suicide and murder.

Earlier this month, Roblox announced a new game feature – Roblox Moments – allowing users to directly create and share short-form video, similar to TikTok or YouTube Shorts. While the feature is not yet available in Australia, many user-generated games on the platform already incorporate these features.

While not every game contains social media-style apps, the only way to know is by loading and playing the game, making it difficult for parents to vet games.

McLean said it was concerning that dangerous games could hide within “benign games” that seemed safe.

“If a game is particularly popular, then there’s likely to be a higher proportion of paedophiles there because more kids equal more opportunities. They’re across all games, so there’s no such thing as safe. There’s only safer,” she said.

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