August 7, 2025
JAKARTA – Officials have warned parents and students against playing popular online game Roblox, citing circulating content allegedly related to violence and other negative effects for children amid a rise in the game’s popularity across the country.
The call for caution for such content inside Roblox was first raised by Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu’ti, who called out the game as an example of content that could be harmful for children due to its “violent” gameplay.
“Don’t play those games like [Roblox], because they are not good,” Mu’ti said on Monday on the sidelines of a visit to an elementary school in Central Jakarta, as quoted by Antara.
“If you’re using your phone, avoid watching violence or listening to bad words. Don’t consume things that have no value,” the minister told the schoolchildren.
Responding to the education minister’s remarks, State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi said on Tuesday that the government “would not hesitate” to block digital games containing elements of violence like Roblox if necessary.
“If what’s shown goes too far and affects our younger generation’s behavior, then yes, we won’t hesitate to shut it down,” said Prasetyo, who also serves as a presidential spokesperson.
“Our priority is to protect this generation. We have no problem closing off platforms that feature violence.”
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Originally launched in 2006, Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system, where users can play games and other online activities designed by others, often called “experiences”. The platform hosts millions of user-created “experiences”, ranging from original games, to activities based on famous television shows and virtual social handouts.
During the second quarter of 2025, the game’s company Roblox Corporation accumulated over 27.4 billion hours worth of global user engagement with “experiences” within the platform, according to data gathered by Statista. The figure is up from 21.7 billion hours in the previous quarter.
In the same period, the company also recorded over 20.6 million daily active users of Roblox games in the United States and Canada, as well as 25.6 million daily users in Europe.
The game has recently gained traction among children and teenagers in the country, who gather on maps designed similarly to real-life locations, such as Mount Bromo in East Java.
Dongker, a punk band from Bandung, West Java, even held a concert on Aug. 3 on Roblox, attended by 200 users whose avatars went into a virtual mosh pit.
Some extracurricular classes found online also offered programming courses for children using Roblox. In some countries, the game has already been used by students to learn computer coding skills and game designing.
But officials have raised concerns about some contents related to violence and a lack of adequate content filtering.
Prasetyo emphasized that the government’s attention goes beyond Roblox, citing recent cases of youth violence which he deemed as a result of the violent content across various media platforms.
“We must really try to reduce things that can give rise to something bad for those who watch them, especially our younger generations,” Prasetyo added.
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First Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Angga Raka Prabowo concurred with Prasetyo, saying that Roblox and similar platforms would be subject to government scrutiny as an effort to keep children safe.
“We want to protect our children from negative influences in the digital world,” Angga said on Tuesday, as quoted by Antara.
He also reiterated Prasetyo’s message of focusing not only on Roblox, but on the digital ecosystem as a whole. Angga further noted that parental supervision is “crucial” beyond the government’s effort to monitor online content.
“Children should be taught from an early age that technology can be used,” the deputy minister said, “but they should also know the limits and the norms.”