Does Roblox Make Money From Child Labor?

One of the most popular video games in the world isn’t actually a video game. Roblox is a social platform where users, mostly kids, build games for other kids to play, getting compensated in scraps while the corporation rakes in billions of dollars.

And labor exploitation isn’t the only problem on Roblox. There’s scammers, nightmarish corporate metaverses, gambling, and chat rooms ripe with predatory behavior, all in a game aimed primarily toward kids.

It’s not hopeless. There’s precedent for the FTC to take action. We investigated some of the most dangerous ways Roblox extracts value from children, and what we can do to stop them.

A clarification: In the video, we say that Roblox takes 70% of game sales before developers cash out. Roblox does take roughly 70% of the cut of game earnings (sometimes more), but only part of this is taken before the developer cashes out. Roblox takes a 30% cut of gamepass sales, and then 2/3 of the remainder upon cashing out. Additionally, Roblox takes 70% of Robux earned through marketplace purchases.

-----
More Perfect Union is a new nonprofit media org with a mission to empower working people. Learn more here: http://perfectunion.us/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perfectunion/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorePerfUnion