The popular children’s video game Roblox was branded a “pedophile hellscape”, with titles such as “Diddy Party” and “Escape to Epstein Island”, according to Hindenburg Research – the short seller that called for alleged fraud by the companies owned of Carl Icahn. and Indian billionaire Gautam Adani.
The damning Hindenburg report, published on Tuesday, claimed that children playing Roblox were exposed to images of male genitalia, edited by predators, digital strip clubs and red-light zones.
“We found Roblox to be an X-rated pedophile, filled with users who try to take care of our avatars, groups that openly market child pornography, widely accessible sex games, violent content, and extremely abusive speech — all of which are open to toddlers and all. while Roblox has cut spending on content moderation to appease Wall Street and increase profits,” Hindenburg said.
Roblox has around 80 million daily users on its gaming platform who are aged 16 and under, with one in five under the age of nine. The average user plays the game for 2.5 hours a day, according to Roblox’s own figures, which were first cited by the Financial Times.
The Hindenburg report cites “over 600 experiences” that “referred to suspected sexual predator Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, including the role-playing games ‘Freak Off.’
The rapper is currently in prison after being accused of sex trafficking.
Roblox also hosted “over 900 variations of Jeffrey Epstein name accounts, including numerous fan accounts,” the report said.
Epstein, who was convicted of having sex with a minor, killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
A nine-year-old’s account was able to access a game called “Escape to Epstein’s Island,” the thumbnail of which shows Epstein apparently chasing a young girl, according to Hindenburg.
The short seller accused Roblox of implementing “zero pre-screening that could keep pedophiles off the platform” as well as “seemingly zero moderation of experiences.”
The research firm said it was able to create accounts for children under the age of nine, which allowed them to set their own parental controls.
He also accused Roblox of providing children with unfettered access to games in which participants can rape, rape and sexually assault other users.
In addition to sexually disturbing content, the report said Roblox allowed youths to access games with violent themes, including one that allowed them to attack homeless people outside a 7-Eleven convenience store.
Hindenburg, which publishes investigative reports on companies it believes engage in fraudulent or unethical practices, also accused the San Mateo, California-based video game giant of lying to investors about the number of users on its platform in order to increase the share price.
Shares of Roblox fell as much as 9% in the wake of the report before recovering some of those losses to close up 2%.
The short seller said he’s also found numerous cases of bots from different countries using alternate accounts to “farm” in-game goods on Roblox.
“Roblox is lying to investors, regulators and advertisers about the number of ‘people’ on its platform, inflating key metrics by 25-42%+,” Hindenburg said.
Roblox denied all claims. “We completely reject the claims made in the report,” a Roblox spokesperson said in a statement.
“The financial claims made by Hindenburg Research are simply misleading.”
#Roblox #called #pedophile #hell #games #Escape #Epstein #Island #Diddy #Party
Image Source : nypost.com