Technology Secretary says firms must ‘bake’ safety at centre of new products

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Peter Kyle said Ofcom would be telling the US-based gaming platform steps it needed to take to ensure users were protected after US investment firm Hindenburg Research accused it of having lax safety controls which created an “X-rated paedophile hellscape”. The Online Safety Act places strict safety duties on online platforms such as Roblox to protect children from being groomed by online predators Peter Kyle He said: “Keeping children safe online is the key priority for this Government. I expect that company to do better to protect the service users, particularly children, on its website.” Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy Labour MP Melanie Ward raised concerns about online safety, as she said the Safer Phones Bill – a private members’ bill due to be presented to the Commons, would help stop young people from being damaged by social media and mobile phone content. “Companies releasing products into our society should see it as a privilege, not a right.” The safety of our community, particularly younger members of our community, is our highest priority, and we have a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity on our platform Roblox spokesman A Roblox spokesperson said: “Safety and civility have been foundational to Roblox since our inception nearly two decades ago, and we have invested heavily throughout our history in our trust and safety efforts.