Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Not even an authoritarian regime can withstand the opposition of a nation’s youth.
The list of bans in modern day Russia is longer than the Christmas wish list of a spoiled child.
Several media platforms and apps, such as Telegram, WhatsApp and some foreign news services, spreading “false information” about the war in Ukraine, a huge number of organizations deemed undesirable by the authorities and a lot of other things and entities are on the “naughty list” of the Kremlin.
But sometimes domestic backlash can trigger even the most authoritarian regime to reverse their decisions, and a flood of complaints has now forced the Kremlin to lift a ban.
And the complaints came from Russian children.
Back online
According to the Russian news agency Interfax, Russia has officially lifted its ban on Roblox, the wildly popular children’s gaming platform. On Wednesday, the country’s Ministry of Digital Development announced the surprise move.
According to the ministry, the California-based company quickly fell into line. Officials confirmed that the platform “has fully complied with Russian legal requirements aimed at ensuring user safety.”
The gaming service is now completely accessible across the nation once more. This follows months of quiet negotiations between tech executives and Kremlin authorities. Peace has been made.
To get back into the lucrative market, Roblox rolled out a wave of changes. The ministry noted that “the company has implemented a range of additional child-protection measures,” including a new age-rating filter.
Kids strike back
Censors originally blocked the app in December 2025. Back then, the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, claimed the platform spread extremist content and propaganda.
The sudden ban sparked a massive backlash from furious children. A spokesperson for President Vladimir Putin admitted the restriction caused an immediate flood of letters from young gamers.
The outrage was staggering. In half of the 63,000 complaints from kids aged eight to 16 the children allegedly threatened to leave the country if the ban was not reversed, pro-Kremlin censorship advocate Yekaterina Mizulina said at the time.
Roblox was the most downloaded mobile game in Russia back in 2023.
