Australian children who play Roblox are on the app for an average of 137 minutes a day and it is the gaming app most blocked by parents, a new industry report has found.
It comes as new documents reveal the federal government excluded games from the under 16s social media ban due to “regulatory overlap”.
The study by parental control software firm Qustodio tracked anonymised data on children’s app usage from 400,000 households in the US, UK, France, Spain, and Australia. The study included 19,000 Australian households.
Roblox is a gaming platform that allows users to build their own games and play them with others, as well as chat via text and otherwise interact in a virtual environment.
The study found Roblox was the most-used gaming app for Australians aged between 4 and 18, taking up an average of 137 minutes of use a day in 2024 for users of the game, second only to the United States on 152 minutes. It was also the most-blocked app by parents both in Australia and internationally.
The figure in Australia was up five minutes on 2023 figures, but down 38 minutes on the daily average in 2022.
Qustodio said the blocking might be a natural response for parents seeking to limit screen time, but also said “online chat, inappropriate content in games, and in-app spending are among Roblox’s red flags”.
The figure is close to usage tracking published by customer experience management firm Genroe in August last year.
Dr Joanne Orlando, a digital wellbeing researcher at Western Sydney University’s institute for culture and society, said the findings were similar to research that found children under 13 were spending about 2.6 hours a day on Roblox.
“I think kids can get on there and just stay on there forever because there’s so many different things you can do on there and that’s obviously the appeal for them,” she said. “They’re hanging out with their friends, depending on what age they are.
“So it’s a bit of a drawcard for children.”
An eSafety commissioner study last year reported 33% of children spent between 6.5 and 12 hours a week gaming online, while 33% spent more than 12 hours a week gaming. Of those surveyed, 50% said they played Roblox.
A spokesperson for Roblox said millions of users come to its platform to “play, create and build together”.
“We continuously roll out safety enhancements – over the last year we rolled out more than 30 new safety feature enhancements, including our recently updated parental controls that give parents and caregivers more control and clarity into what content their children have access to,” the spokesperson said.
“We also offer resources for parents that we developed with safety experts to help empower them with the tools to help keep their children safe online.”
Gaming platforms are excluded from the law to ban under-16s from social media, which will come into effect later this year. Documents released under freedom of information (FoI) law to transparency website Right to Know this week revealed talking points from the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, on the decision to exclude games from the ban.
The talking points stated that online games are regulated by the existing classification scheme and the government was seeking to avoid regulatory overlap.
The federal government has faced pressure to include apps like Roblox in the ban. Activist group Collective Shout wrote in its submission to the social media ban bill that Roblox should be included as the group claimed it “is exposing children to grooming, pornography and extremely abusive speech” through the social media functionality in the app.
“We … believe age verification would reduce the likely harm to children and young people when online gaming platforms, such as Roblox, continue to flout requirements for keeping children and young people safe.”
Orlando said Roblox’s classification as a game when there is so much social network activity was unusual.
“It’s a platform with millions and millions of kids running around on it, plus a whole lot of random adults. So I think that any kind of massive social platform like that is going to have problems.”
Late last year, Five Eyes security and law enforcement agencies – including those in Australia – released an analysis that named Roblox among other platforms included in the ban as “an avenue” for extremists to introduce minors to extremist ideology.
In a separate FoI document obtained by Guardian Australia of meeting notes from roundtables held prior to the introduction of the ban legislation, it reported parents saw benefits from using social media, including Roblox, despite overwhelmingly supporting an age restriction on social media.
“Social media has many benefits, including a way to talk to and connect with friends, establish identity, and as a regulation tool for neurodivergent children (eg Roblox).”
The Qustodio study found among the social media apps, TikTok was most-used by Australian children and children globally, accounting for 117 minutes a day and 120 minutes a day respectively. Instagram was second in Australia, with 71 minutes a day.
Snapchat was the most-used messaging app, averaging 88 minutes a day in Australia, well ahead of the next-closest app, with chatroom program Discord averaging 26 minutes a day.
This article was amended on 22 January 2025. A previous version said that the amount of time Australian children were spending on Roblox a day was 139 minutes. It was 137 minutes, but the global average was 139 minutes.
