PNP-ACG rescues 19 minors from Roblox grooming, extremist exploitation

Rescued minors aged 12 to 15 years old, who are allegedly victims of grooming and extremist violence by foreigners on the online gaming platform Roblox, now stand at 19, the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) confirmed Tuesday. 

PNP-ACG Col. Romeo Desiderio said in a Senate hearing that the figure was a result of six rescue operations, including that of the thwarted mass shooting in a school in Calamba, Laguna, on 13 January, allegedly plotted by seven high school students.

The attack was supposed to be carried out during their school’s foundation week in mid-February. 

“Aside from this [incident in] Calamba, we have conducted five other rescue operations, [which] involved the rescue of 12 minors. And the areas include Marikina, Las Piñas, Negros Occidental, and Pampanga,” Desiderio told members of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality. 

In addition, the PNP-ACG has seven ongoing cases related to rescue operations. The majority of the rescued minors are enrolled in private schools, according to Desiderio.

The motu proprio was launched following reports that online gaming platforms such as Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Free Fire, among others, are allegedly being exploited to groom, coerce, abuse, and radicalize minors. 

The offenders purportedly use the platform’s chat features to interact with children and build their trust. Afterward, the communication will continue through private channels, such as Facebook. 

For instance, the intelligence on the foiled shooting plot in a school in Calamba was obtained by the PNP-ACG from their foreign counterparts, who alerted them regarding an extremist-related communication from a Facebook user, RAH. 

Desiderio said their unit was informed that the communication between the offender and the minors originated from Roblox and later continued on Facebook. 

The thread allegedly showed discussions to execute the mass attacks, with the offender instructing the minors about the use of certain weapons, such as a fire extinguisher for a flash blinding effect, IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, and Molotov cocktails.

“It also stated [a] desire to carry out a school shooting locally and an intent to die by suicide. This is the information we got from these Facebook messages,” Desiderio narrated.

“The message also asserted a family possession of firearms. It's already [been] inquired at a firing range on how to practice gun shooting,” he added.

Furthermore, the PNP-ACG also discovered that the minor victims were also allegedly being encouraged to wear clothing with extremist or Nazi-related imagery, as well as post a final YouTube statement and a manifesto.

Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center Executive Director Aboy Paraiso said they have monitored several forms of abuse in Roblox, including cases of “grooming,” where children are being persuaded to commit violence and adult content.

Paraiso asserted that some reported cases can be remedied through content regulation, but that a “government intervention” is necessary for grooming-related cases.

Roblox was supposed to be banned in the Philippines starting this month. However, the Department of Information and Communications Technology announced last week that operations will no longer be shut down, citing Roblox management’s commitment to enhancing monitoring and safety measures for children during a recent meeting.

Roblox Corp.’s Vice President and Global Head of Public Policy told senators that they have launched a global overhaul of safety systems, including the introduction of Roblox Kids Mode for ages five to eight.

She explained that this account will have communication disabled by default and will be restricted to a vetted catalog of games that have passed a rigorous multi-step screening process. 

Meanwhile, the Roblox Select Mode for ages nine to 15 offers age-appropriate flexibility while maintaining strict guardrails on content maturity.

“Of note, children ages nine to 15 will be able to chat, but the chat will be filtered, and they can only chat with people in similar age groups,” she said. “Although if their parents want to authorize additional users as trusted friends, they're able to do that.”

Nonetheless, Paraiso warned that Roblox may still be banned if it fails to comply with its new regulations, asserting that Philippine law's legal protections do not apply to it as a foreign-backed entity.