Roblox CEO David Bazuki sparked controversy during a recent interview with the New York Times podcast.In the interview, he discussed the platform's new AI-driven age-restriction technology, denied accusations that Roblox has a pedophilia problem, and had a tense exchange with the interviewer about the company's content moderation methods.
The interview got off to a hot start: When asked what he thought of "the issue of child safety on Roblox," Bazouki responded: "We see it not only as a problem, but also as an opportunity. How do we enable young people to create, communicate, and get together together? At the same time, how do we build the future of communication?"
As the interview progressed, Bazouki was unable to provide specific details.He mentioned that he would use "behavioral signals combined with facial scanning" and other systems to "help us make informed decisions." Of course, he also praised the power of AI, but did not disclose any substantive content.
When asked why it took Roblox so long to roll out some of these systems, particularly features designed to limit conversations on the platform to certain age “bands,” his response was vague.When the interviewer pointed out that "pedophiles can still easily bypass Roblox's protection system," Bazouki said he would not comment.He even seemed to completely deny that there were child safety issues on the platform, acknowledging that relevant claims appeared in lawsuits and media reports, but "clearly disagreed" with the interviewer's statement.
When asked about a report from Hindenburg Research claiming that "Roblox is cutting spending in the field of trust and safety," Bazouki first pointed out that the research company was out of business, and then asked the interviewer "if they had done their own research."
After getting the interviewer's approval, Bazouki said: "Very good, then you agree with our position. High five!" Then he continued to interrupt the interviewer's attempts to complete the questions, and said that he did not expect the interview to be completely centered on Roblox's security system: "If our PR team said, 'Spend an hour talking about age restrictions,' I would have no problem, but I love your podcast, and I thought it was here to talk about everything."
A New York Times headline called the interview "troublesome."Kevin Roos, one of the interviewers for the New York Times, said on the
Roblox is currently facing tremendous pressure: in the past few months, the US states of Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas have all filed lawsuits against Roblox for "failure to protect children from pedophiles", and Florida is launching a criminal investigation into the company.
As the interview came to an end, Bazouki made another extremely ill-considered remark.After talking about Polymarket, when asked whether he would add a “prediction market” to Roblox—essentially a platform that allows users to gamble on future events such as sports scores, the Chilean presidential election, and the number of tweets Elon Musk will post on a given day—Bazouki actually gave an affirmative answer.When the interviewer made it clear that "this is a terrible idea," Bazouki insisted: "I actually think it would be a great idea if it could be done in a legal and educational way. Imagine, no free Robux, no free prizes, just a game called 'Outfit Master Predictor,' not to scam kids out of their money or anything like that. I would be very supportive."
