Roblox accused of lying to investors about user numbers by Hindenburg Research

Roblox is facing accusations that it lied to investors astir the fig of radical who usage the platform. In a study published connected Tuesday, the investment steadfast Hindenburg Research claims Roblox is “consistently overstating the magnitude of radical connected its level by 25 percent to 42 percent oregon more.”

Roblox, which went nationalist successful 2021, reported having 79.5 million regular progressive users successful its astir caller net report. However, Hindenburg claims Roblox “intentionally conflates” existent radical with regular users, arsenic that fig could besides see alt accounts and bots. The probe alleges that Roblox tin abstracted alt accounts from azygous users, adjacent though the company’s disclosure says regular progressive users “are not a measurement of unsocial individuals accessing Roblox.”

The steadfast besides claims Roblox isn’t doing capable to support children connected the platform, alleging its “in-game probe revealed an X-rated pedophile hellscape, exposing children to grooming, pornography, convulsive contented and highly abusive speech.” Roblox shares dipped pursuing the merchandise of the report.

Last week, a fiscal newsletter besides accused Roblox of enabling kid abuse. At the time, Roblox spokesperson Eric Porterfield denied claims that kid endangerment is simply a wide contented connected the platform, saying it often updates its information practices to “catch and forestall malicious activity.”

The Verge reached retired to Roblox with a petition for remark astir Hindenburg’s study but didn’t instantly perceive back.