Turkey this time bans access to online game platform Roblox

In a new bizarre move, a Turkish court has blocked access to the online gaming platform Roblox. The move is the latest in a string of access bans issued by Turkey, following Wattpad and Instagram.

Wednesday August 07 2024 08:57 pm

Duvar English

An Adana court on Aug. 7 blocked access to the online gaming platform Roblox.

The ruling is issued on the website of the infotech regulator Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK).

State-run Anadolu Agency reported that the ruling was based on "the detection of content that may lead to child abuse."

Roblox is a well-known gaming platform that allows its users to create their own games.

According to Esports.net, Turkey ranks fifth in the world in the number of people playing Roblox, Euronews' Turkish service reported.

The move is the latest in a string of access bans issued by the Turkish government.

Last week, Turkey banned access to the social media platform Instagram for allegedly failing to comply with the country's “laws and rules.” However, the move came after a senior Turkish official accused Instagram of blocking condolence posts following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Similarly, A Turkish court banned access to the story-sharing platform Wattpad last month.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), criticized the move, and deemed it “inconceivable.”

“Those who make these decisions are minds that are ignorant of the new world, economy, and technology,” he added.

Instagram’dan sonra, 15 milyondan fazla kullanıcısı olan ve kullanıcıların oyun geliştirebildikleri çevrimiçi oyun platformu #Roblox'a da erişim yasağı gelmiş olması akıl alır gibi değil. Bu kararları verenler yeni dünyadan, ekonomiden, teknolojiden bihaber akıllar.
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) August 7, 2024

A social media user said, “There were thousands of game developers in Turkey who developed games here. These game developers were making a living from here and bringing foreign currency into the country.”

#Roblox türkiyede engellendi. Türkiye üzerinde buradan oyun geliştiren binlerce oyun geliştiricisi vardı. Bu oyun geliştiricileri geçimlerini buradan sağlıyor ve ülkeye döviz sokuyorlardı. Ne bu şimdi?#Roblox has been banned in Turkey.#roblox #robloxtürkiye #robloxengellendi pic.twitter.com/8Kw5aNpMdi
— localModuled (@LocalModuled) August 7, 2024

“The Transportation Ministry said, 'We just heard about the move, probably the Justice Ministry didn't know about it either',” journalist Cüneyt Özdemir reported.

Milyonlarca ebeveyn şu anda çocuklara Roblox'un neden kapandığını, nasıl anlatacaklarını kar kara düşünüyor.

Ulaştırma Bakanlığından aradılar 'Bizim de yeni haberimiz oldu, muhtemelen Adalet Bakanlığının da haberi yoktu' diyorlar.

Bu ülke bir harika yönetiliyor dostum!
— cüneyt özdemir (@cuneytozdemir) August 7, 2024

Banning access to websites is a common practice of the Turkish government. Turkey issued access bans to at least 137,717 websites in 2022, İFÖD revealed.

The Constitutional Court (AYM) recently ruled “violation of freedom of expression” in more than 500 applications against online access blocking and content removal decisions.