Roblox is becoming a real beast. It managed to establish itself as one of the biggest players in the metaverse, has built a thriving creator community that made nearly $750 million last year, is doing more and more brand deals with more and more ecommerce, and just partnered with multinational advertising holding company WPP, which is going to help it develop a program that turns marketers into Roblox experts.
With all of this attention and all of these high-profile advertisers trusting Roblox to maintain brand safety alongside their marketing, it’s no surprise the platform wants to shore up protections for young users. It’s faced numerous concerns over whether or not it can protect its largely underage user base; this past July, 20 current and former members of the platform’s staff told Bloomberg that it receives “hundreds” of reports about child safety every day, and that they’re worried it’s incapable of addressing the sheer scale of the problem. And, just this week, a report from Hindenburg Research called Roblox “a pedophile hellscape for kids,” plus accused it of inflating its user metrics.
So, how is Roblox going to do this child safety shoring-up? By forming an advisory council dedicated to “fostering a safe and positive online environment” for young users.
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The aptly named Teen Council will bring together up to 15 teenagers ages 14-17 from across the U.S. to “serve as advocates for digital well-being and advisers on civility,” Roblox says. These teens will spend five months collaborating with Roblox‘s internal teams, giving their opinions and advice about user safety, current and future platform features, policies, and user resources.
User safety seems to be one of the biggest parts of the council’s duties; Roblox says the Teen Council will “champion digital well-being among other teens,” and that through engaging council members, Roblox wants to “ensure that our platform continues to be a place where people can have safe, creative, and positive experiences.”
The council is part of Roblox‘s overall Youth Engagement Program, which began in collaboration with the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to this, the Engagement Program hosted a series of workshops about digital civility, a topic it gives a big spotlight on its creator hub.
“Roblox has always been driven by the voices of our community, and the Teen Council is a natural extension of that commitment. We believe that empowering teens to take a more active role in shaping the digital world will help foster a culture of civility and respect across the platform that is authentic and relevant,” Tami Bhaumik, Roblox‘s Vice President of Civility & Partnerships, said in a statement.
In addition to promising that it’s prioritizing young users’ safety with the Teen Council, Roblox is putting itself forward as a place for teens to maintain their mental health.
“In a recent survey we conducted with 530 teens in the U.S., 87% of respondents agreed that gaming is important to helping them improve their mental well-being,” Andres Cuervo, Roblox‘s Youth Engagement Program Manager, said. That’s a similar angle to what we recently heard from Snap, which is also looking to paint itself as a net positive for users’ mental health, unlike other social media platforms.
The Teen Council is taking applications now through Dec. 6, and the 15 teens selected will congregate from March to July 2025.
It’s clear Roblox wants to present itself as a safe, mental health-boosting digital locale where teens can gather without their parents (or child safety watchdogs) worrying. And we’ve seen from platforms like Twitch–which is revamping its own advisory council to be comprised entirely of streamers–that direct responses from ambassador users can help shape platforms’ quality of life and policy decisions for the better. Teen Council members talking about their own experiences with Roblox might give developers a better idea of how child predators could use its platform to target young users. What we’re interested to see is what Roblox does with the information they share.
