‘Kids are not born toxic’ – How Roblox tries to keep 90 million children safe

“Kids are not born toxic,” says Laura Higgins. “Adults generally are where most of the negative stuff is online. It’s not kids doing it.”

Higgins works for Roblox, a children’s game of blocky-armed figures and even blockier cars. Well technically, it’s not one game, but many. Roblox is a sort of pick-your-own-playground with a platter of multiplayer minigames made by other players. You could fly planes in a kind of PG-13 Grand Theft Auto minigame, or go camping until a big scary man attacks you at night, or get adopted by an unusual mum. These are cherry-picked YouTube highlights, of course. For many players, it’s simply an a la carte menu of misadventure with friends, as Minecraft has become. It’s also hugely popular with kids, according to the company’s figures. But kids can also be cheeky. They get into arguments and fights, they will do things they’re not supposed to, and they can find themselves in real danger. Higgins knows all this about kids already. After all, she’s looking after 90 million of them.

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