ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The communications ministry of the Kurdistan Region on Thursday announced a ban on the online game Roblox in family internet packages over child safety concerns, following a similar decision Baghdad issued over a week ago.
The ministerial decree commits all licensed communications companies under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of the Kurdistan Region.
Roblox, one of the world’s largest online gaming platforms, allows users to play, create, and socialize in virtual worlds. It has faced international scrutiny and partial bans in several countries, including Turkey, Russia, and Jordan, over reports of hate speech, child exploitation, and exposure to explicit content.
Adding the online game Roblox comes as the communications ministry on August 31 censored all inappropriate sites and violent videos in telecommunication companies' family internet packages.
On October 19, Iraq’s Ministry of Communication ministry announced a similar nationwide ban, citing security, social, and moral concerns following a Supreme Federal Court decision.
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The ministry said the decision came after “extensive study and field monitoring,” which found that the game posed “security, social, and behavioral risks,” including enabling communication that could expose minors to “exploitation or electronic blackmail attempts.”
Communications Minister Hayam al-Yasiri stated in a video message that Roblox “hurts children and families in general because it contains bad content that blackmails and lures children and includes harassment.”
She added that the game “includes a lot of violence, cursing, insults to the divine, immoral issues, and sexual insinuation,” warning that overuse of such games and social media “leads to isolation, weakens social relationships, and reduces energy and health due to lack of movement.”