Roblox Introduces Ad Hiding for Younger Users

Roblox has introduced a new policy to conceal advertisements from users aged 13 and below. This development comes almost a year after the advertising watchdog organization, Truth in Advertising, filed a complaint with the FTC and published a report criticizing Roblox's advertising policies for minors. The organization claimed that Roblox allowed companies to surreptitiously advertise to millions of users, including over 25 million children and adolescents, through various channels, including avatar influencers, due to the platform's lack of effective safeguards to ensure compliance with advertising laws. Following this, the non-profit organization issued a follow-up complaint to the FTC in October 2022, stating that Roblox had not made sufficient changes to its advertising standards. At that time, it was noted that children on the platform were not blocked from all advertising materials but only from advertisements by a few marketers who had chosen an older age range for their advergames. The updated advertising policy prohibits ads soliciting charitable donations, promoting multilevel marketing companies, financial services such as tax preparation or credit monitoring, and those promoting cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Furthermore, Roblox has provided guidelines for developers to adhere to the updated advertising standards.