Roblox CEO defends its predator crisis as an ‘opportunity’ while downplaying gambling as 'fun' if done right

Roblox’s CEO, David Baszucki, sat down for an interview on The New York Times’ Hard Fork podcast, which has drawn online backlash for his responses to some topics. Baszucki defended child safety measures on Roblox and noted that the predator issues were an “opportunity” and defended the notion of potentially introducing gambling to the platform in the future.

The interview, hosted by Casey Newton and Kevin Roose, was meant to highlight the platform’s new AI-powered age-verification system. However, the interview quickly devolved into other concerns as Baszucki grew visibly frustrated and veered into tangents, many of which offered somewhat fascinating insights into the inner workings of what is arguably the most powerful platformer for the youngest generation of gamers by far this decade.

The podcast began with the hosts probing Baszucki with the predator issue on Roblox, and the CEO’s response pretty much set the tone. Baszucki said, “We think of it not necessarily as just a problem, but an opportunity as well. How do we allow young people to build, communicate, and hang out together?”

While Baszucki stated that this was an “opportunity” to pioneer safety tools for minors on the platform, the hosts pressed him on the fact that predators were evading safety filters by either using coded language or luring them onto unmonitored social platforms like Discord.

However, when he was directly asked if Roblox has a predator problem, he deflected the question, stating, “I think we’re doing an incredible job at innovating relative to the number of people on our platform and the hours in really leaning into the future of how moderation is going to work.”

Baszucki got noticeably irritated as he accused the hosts of conducting a “stealth interview,” focusing on the cons rather than “fun, funny things in the industry.” He interrupted them repeatedly, touting “getting calls from famous parents” whose kids “would be dead if it weren’t for Roblox.” He discussed the platform's upcoming AI verification features, claiming they would “go way beyond” prior safety measures.

Things took an even stranger turn when one of the hosts, Roose, brought Polymarket into the conversation. To this, Baszucki said, “It sounds very fun and obvious. I love that.” Roose, however, said it was a horrible idea, but Baszucki doubled down and said, “I actually think it’s a brilliant idea if it can be done in an educational way that’s legal.”

Baszucki said a non-monetary version with Robux prizes, to teach probability to kids, would be a good start. Host, Kevin Roose, sarcastically said, “Start them young. When it comes to gambling, you’re never too young.”

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