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Roblox will hide ads for users 13 and under

Changes come nearly a year after advertising watchdog filed an FTC complaint over company's ad policies

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Roblox will now hide advertisements from users 13 and younger, the company revealed in its new policy changes.

The changes come nearly a year after the organization Truth in Advertising (TINA) issued a complaint to the FTC and published a report about Roblox's advertising policy towards minors.

TINA said in Roblox, "…advertising is surreptitiously pushed in front of millions of consumers, including more than 25 million children and adolescents, by a multitude of companies and their avatar influencers. Such digital deception is possible because Roblox has failed to establish any meaningful guardrails to ensure compliance with truth in advertising laws."

The non-profit adds that in October 2022, it issued a follow-up to the FTC, calling out Roblox again for not changing its ad standards enough at the time.

At the time, TINA said, "children on Roblox are not blocked from all advertising material; they are only blocked from advertisements by 3 marketers who have responsibly selected an older age range to correspond with their advergames."

Roblox's new advertising changes include prohibiting the following:

  • Ads that solicit charitable donations.
  • Ads that promote multilevel marketing companies or their products.
  • Ads that promote financial services (tax preparation or credit monitoring).
  • Ads that promote cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Additionally, Roblox has provided guidelines on how developers can adhere to its updated advertising standards.

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Jeffrey Rousseau

Staff Writer

Jeffrey Rousseau joined GamesIndustry.biz in March 2021. Based in Florida, his work focused on the intersectionality of games and media. He enjoys reading, podcasts, staying informed, and learning how people are tackling issues.