Image: Roblox
Children have taken to the popular online game Roblox to attend protests they can’t go to in real life.
As the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine continues to unfold, even children who aren’t able to attend protests in real life have found an online platform to support victims of violence. The platform they’re using is decidedly unconventional, however: it’s the ever-popular online game Roblox.
That’s right, hundreds of children are attending ‘Free Palestine’ protests online… in Roblox. What a world.
Malaysian kids are protesting the Israel-Palestine conflict on Roblox
Online users on X/Twitter have noted that hundreds of children, seemingly mostly made up of Malaysians, have taken to Roblox to protest against the violence occurring due to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Groups of children are seen in now-viral videos holding Palestinian and Malaysian flags on a wide red road, marching down the streets and standing in unison as part of the protest. You can see footage of the protest below:
Roblox is not so much a game as it is a tool for game creation, allowing kids and adults alike to create minigames on the Roblox platform for everyone to play. Graphically, it isn’t very impressive - but its sheer breadth of gameplay variety and character customisation has attracted kids to the platform globally, and it only seems to grow in popularity with time. The game has seen some controversy lately thanks to its player base being mostly composed of kids.
Since most of Roblox’s minigame-builders are also kids, the platform profits off of their work in a fashion that flies dangerously close to the territory of child labour. People have also noted that, despite being branded a kid-friendly game, the game’s lack of quality control tends to lead to a lot of adult-oriented content being let loose on the platform for kids to engage with, without the knowledge of their parents.
A spokesperson for Roblox told CNBC:
While our Community Standards allow for expressions of solidarity, we do not allow for content that endorses or condones violence, promotes terrorism or hatred against individuals or groups, or calls for supporting a specific political party. We have an expert team of thousands of moderators along with automated detection tools in place to monitor our platform and will take swift action against any content or individuals found to be in violation of our standards.
It sounds like Roblox isn’t in support of this kind of content on its platform, but the company didn’t make any attempt to stop the protest from happening despite that.
Why are Malaysian kids getting involved?
Attendees to the online protest could either choose between holding a Palestinian flag, Malaysian flag or no flag at all - suggesting that this was organised by a Malaysian in particular. The Malaysian government has taken a firm pro-Palestinian stance amid this conflict, with its current prime minister Anwar Ibrahim decrying Israel’s air strikes in the Gaza Strip recently.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine escalated to new heights on October 7, when the Palestinian organisation Hamas began attacks near the Israel-Gaza border that led to the deaths of civilians and the kidnapping of hostages. Israel then began a siege of Gaza by cutting off basic resources such as food and water, leading to more deaths. According to CNBC, the death toll of the conflict as of Wednesday has gone up to the thousands on both sides.
