Updated at 13:09
Loyal Roblox – in Tomsk passing During a government-sanctioned protest against the blocking of Roblox games, police arrested two people. One of the teenagers was taken to the police station on suspicion of displaying extremist symbols.
About 50 people came to the park named after Vladimir Vysotsky. Among them were both supporters and opponents of the decision to ban the service, Tomsk.ru reported. During the action, slogans were heard, including demands to “Return Roblox to children”, “Play, don't block!” The protest was agreed upon with the city authorities and was organized by activist Anton Iskov. The protest action was observed by a police team, but there were still some arrests. Elena Taylasheva, a journalist from Tomsk, tells why the authorities allowed the protests and how people perceive it to prevent children from playing:
— It seems to me that this is a topic that is causing a stir among young people. Honestly, this is the only thing that has caused them to react like this recently. I have a fourteen-year-old daughter—she's got the pegs right there. She kept asking: “Why? Why am I not allowed to play? What cruelty is there?” My ten year old son also played and now doesn't play. And that's probably why the teenagers decided to unite. I don't know who organized this and with whose money. In general, does anyone need funding for this?
— This is Anton Iskov, a famous activist, head of the Tomsk regional headquarters of Nadezhdin…
– We need to promote ourselves on this story. After all, we have elections to the State Duma. Perhaps they started promoting themselves and starting the election campaign with a very correct theme, causing teenagers – future voters – who are now complaining to their parents: “Why are we suffering?” Actually, that's all I can say about this picket. I don't even know how many people came.
— Another interesting thing: it is allowed, approved.
– But this is a harmless topic. Maybe they tried it in Tomsk. The authorities might have thought: “Look at Tomsk – a smart, dynamic city. After all, we have a smart city. How will these smart people behave in the face of bans that do not directly affect the quality of life but hit very sensitive places? And for me, as a parent, this is a really painful problem. My daughter walks around sad. For me, okay, she will find a game.” play differently. But for them it's the whole world! Perhaps Tomsk has become a testing ground to test the reaction to the ban. Most likely.
— A seemingly funny ban… The organizer himself, Iskov, said that he had never heard of Roblox before, a game that really affects a large number of children and teenagers. Here it is necessary to remember Mizulina's comments.
— Because the teens were really outraged. I don't remember my daughter being offended by anything in our social and political life that concerned her. But Roblox really touched a lot of children.
Business FM spoke to the protest organizer, Anton Iskov:
— My colleague on the Dawn team went to a parent-teacher conference and in the first session they discussed the Roblox ban. Then we realized that this topic was so important and relevant that we decided to organize a protest. Honestly, we did not expect such a large and passionate response – people would come, they would write about us on many channels. Judging by the feedback, this topic is really important for everyone, both parents and young people who play Roblox.
— Do you explain why that action was sanctioned?
“I think the theme was considered safe, although we were still asked to hold it in Hyde Park on the outskirts, where less people go. It would have gathered more people in the center. But, apparently, it was considered harmless enough so it was allowed – albeit in this form.
– The police are also on duty. Yes, two people were arrested on suspicion of displaying extremist symbols.
– I know that. I was actually in the park and they were being held at the entrance so it was difficult to understand what was going on. There were also provocateurs: some elderly men came and began to say: “What are you doing here? Is this necessary for the fatherland? I think the employees of the public safety committee were informed that they were mistaken in adopting this action. The resonance turned out to be too loud. I had no special expectations, because demonstrations in Tomsk are very rarely organized – sometimes the communists or other political parties organize them accordingly.” very safe topics and not much publicity. So it was impossible to predict how many people would come in for the fact that there would be five or ten of us – that was the number that was initially agreed upon – but in the end, I was happy that it turned out this way. it into its program. children at Roblox – after all, it is a platform with a huge number of games. But Roblox in turn responds to the regulator and blocks the games that cause complaints – and that would be right.
Roblox was blocked by Roskomnadzor on December 3. The ministry explained the blocking decision was due to the distribution of prohibited content on the platform. Roblox is an online gaming platform founded in 2006. It allows any user to create their own games and post them for sharing.
