Khaberni - The Iraqi Ministry of Communications decided on Sunday evening to officially ban the American video gaming platform "Roblox" due to its inclusion of "sexual insinuations," "obscene language," and "transgressions against the divine essence," in addition to exposing children and teenagers to "electronic blackmail attempts."
The ministry stated in a release, "In an effort to protect community security, uphold moral and educational values for families and children, and ensure the safety of Internet service users in Iraq, we announce the ban of the game 'Roblox' within the country based on decisions of the Federal Supreme Court."
The ministry added, "The decision comes after an extensive study and field monitoring that showed the game includes a number of security, social, and behavioral risks among which is enabling direct communication between users in a way that exposes children and teenagers to exploitation or electronic blackmail attempts, and the inclusion of certain game contents that are inconsistent with community values and norms."
It clarified that "there are sexual insinuations, blackmail operations, as well as obscene language and transgressions against the divine essence, among other negatives" in this game.
It pointed to "the spread of fake links and unofficial platforms claiming to offer in-game rewards and used in data theft and personal information, encouraging users to frequent internal purchases that cause financial burdens on Iraqi families, in addition to increasing cases of digital addiction and social isolation among young users due to excessive game use."
The ministry mentioned in its statement that it "continues to monitor and follow up on applications and electronic games that may affect moral values or threaten the safety of users in coordination with relevant authorities."
"Roblox" had agreed on September 14th, in response to an Australian request, to take measures by the end of this year to verify user ages and prevent adults from interacting with children under sixteen, to protect children from potential harassment by predators.
On September 5th, the company regularly accused of not protecting young players announced that it plans to combine face age detection technologies, identity verification, and verified parental consent to determine user age more accurately than just relying on information entered at account creation.
Roblox (Roblox ), which has more than 100 million users worldwide daily, is a game available on "Android," "iOS," "PC," and "Xbox One," and is designed for children and teenagers aged between 8 and 18 years.
Iraq is among many countries in the Middle East that tighten controls on electronic games due to concerns for the safety of children, believing that the content of some of these games poses a risk to them.
On August 30th, Iraqi Minister of Communications Hiyam Al-Yasiri said, "The Internet is now being used even by two-year-old children, necessitating the implementation of stringent policies to ensure safe use of digital space."
