A senior garda from the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau has warned that children are being groomed and exploited on online gaming platforms at an "alarming scale".
Detective Superintendent Michael Mullen told Prime Time that Gardaí are "seeing grooming, sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse as a result of children being on gaming platforms, and in some cases, moving on to other platforms".
Det Supt Mullen added that he was "very concerned" about exploitation he said was taking place "on a daily basis".
He was speaking to Prime Time as part of a report examining risks to children using Roblox, one of the most popular gaming platforms among primary school pupils.
According to Roblox's own metrics, over 150 million people use the platform daily, and a third of those are under the age of 13.
Roblox is made up of millions of user-created games, where people of all ages play and chat together. Unlike most social media companies that require users to be 13 to make an account, the youngest allowed sign-up age for Roblox is just five years old.
Amid mounting allegations that Roblox is failing to protect its youngest users from predators and harmful content, Prime Time created test accounts for a five-year-old, a nine-year-old and a 13-year-old.
At no stage were we asked for age verification or parental permission to set up an account. Once logged in, there was no prompt to turn on optional additional parental controls, so we proceeded with Roblox's default safety features.
Over roughly 12 hours playing different games across three accounts, Prime Time found examples of dating role-play games and simulated sexual acts in public toilet games, rated suitable for five years and older, despite Roblox's terms prohibiting such content.
In experiences rated suitable for over 13s, we found examples of users simulating lap dances, clothing branded with racial slurs, and discussions of suicide, which Roblox also says it prohibits.
In a statement to Prime Time, Roblox said "protecting children is a top priority." It said its teams have investigated the examples sent by Prime Time, and "removed or suspended content that did not meet our standards".
Gambling-style mechanics were also found in games open to under-13s. This included spin-the-wheel features, loot boxes and casino-style games.
In other games, we found users begging strangers for donations of the platform’s currency Robux, which allows users to move up to higher levels within experiences or buy accessories for their avatars.
Det Supt Mullen said Gardaí are seeing cases where children are coerced by other users, and described circumstances where a young person was "forced to buy expensive items for the person who's making the demands, and then that progresses into the young person being asked to self-harm and being encouraged to take their own life".
He added that in another case a nine-year-old child who was "playing one of these games online unsupervised, unsupported... reached out to anybody on the game to ask for virtual currency".
"Of course, there are adult people unverified on the game who pounce on that request and offer to provide that currency for that young girl of nine years old to conduct explicit sexual acts."
Internationally, Roblox is under growing scrutiny. In the US, State attorneys in Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky have filed legal cases alleging the company has failed to protect minors. Over a dozen families are also suing the company for allegedly enabling sexual exploitation of children on the platform.
Earlier this month the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said "Roblox markets itself as a safe digital space of creativity, but in reality it has become a breeding ground for predators".
Mick Moran, a retired garda, who also spent a decade at Interpol specialising in child exploitation, said the risks are not limited to other countries.
"Is Roblox an environment in which grooming and other forms of exploitation of young vulnerable people goes on? Yes, absolutely. 100% it is."
Asked whether Irish children are being groomed on the platform, he said: "Absolutely they are…People have this kind of, 'oh, that's happening somewhere else’ attitude, and it is not. It is happening right here in this country."
One of the key concerns for experts like Mr Moran is that adults and children can enter the same games and talk freely.
Prime Time witnessed what appeared to be older players interacting with much younger players on different role-play experiences. In one instance, we witnessed a seemingly older player on a social role play game attempting to move a young user onto a third-party private messaging app.
Mr Moran, now CEO of Hotline.ie, said the fact that usernames can be exchanged between users of different ages could facilitate grooming.
"One of the key elements in grooming, or one of the key elements in even sexual abuse, is exclusive access to the child... before abuse can take place, there must be exclusive access," Mr Moran said.
"By bouncing the child off Roblox… to any number of messengers out there, then that is a huge red flag."
Senior researcher at UK-based research group Revealing Reality, Chiara Sanchez, has extensively tested Roblox and its safety features, and also raised concerns about them.
"What we saw was shocking…immediately we saw sexualised behavior… racial slurs, rape jokes, and also what sounded like adults interacting with children."
In response to growing backlash and mounting legal cases, Roblox announced last week that it would roll out new safety measures requiring age verification for anyone using the chat function.
This is due to roll out in Ireland in early January, Roblox told Prime Time, and that it is "designed to further limit communication between minors and adults."
Ms Sanchez said the new safety feature would "minimise the risks of interaction, but it's not the be-all-and-end-all of stopping inappropriate interactions and risks to children."
While there are still questions around how the verification will work practically, Ms Sanchez said "as long as adults and children are able to enter the same space, the same server, and be in that space together, I think risks still remain".
Mr Moran also welcomed the move and said "age-gating is a great idea," but warned it will not stop those determined to interact with children. "Will bad actors and properly motivated bad actors be able to get over that barrier? Yes, they absolutely will."
"One of the ways people who have a sexual interest in children use platforms like this is to gather intelligence about kids, to learn how the kids are talking...That's an intelligence gathering exercise. It forms part of grooming," Mr Moran added.
Roblox also told Prime Time that the company had "a robust set of Community Standards," that they "limit chat for younger users".
It says it does "not allow image or video sharing in chat" and has "chat filters designed to block the sharing of personal information and stop attempts to direct younger users off platform where moderation standards may be less stringent".
The experts who spoke to Prime Time said parental involvement is crucial to keeping kids safe online, but that it can be overwhelming, especially on a platform with millions of unique games.
"I think the best thing that parents can give children and young people is their attention and get involved in their online life in the same way they would their real life," Det Supt Mullen told Prime Time.
"Set up the account with your child to make sure it's suitable for them. Know the games they play, understand the content and features," he added.
"You don't need to be a tech expert, just be present. Set clear boundaries. No private chats with strangers."
Mr Moran echoed that, adding that parents should "engage with the parental controls, discuss why you're putting the parental controls in place, talk about the bad things that can happen to kids online, make sure your kids are equipped with the knowledge and the tools to mind themselves online."
The full report on Roblox from reporter Kate McDonald and producer Genevieve Brennan will broadcast on the 27 November edition of Prime Time at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
