Residents of Russia are widely reporting issues with accessing Roblox. Update: Roskomnadzor has announced the blocking of the service
Starting the morning of December 3, Russian gamers report that they are unable to launch Roblox. By the time of this news report, Downdetector recorded over 8,100 complaints in a day, and the number keeps rising.
Roblox outage chart from Downdetector
In the comments, many users speculate that Roblox is unavailable in Russia due to possible actions from Roskomnadzor. Recently, the agency stated that it regularly finds banned and "inappropriate" content on the platform; however, it also acknowledged that Roblox responds to Roskomnadzor's notifications and removes such material.
As of now, Roskomnadzor has not announced any plans to block Roblox. Roblox is also not listed in the registry of resources banned in Russia.
Nevertheless, the Ombudsman for Children's Rights in Moscow Region, Ksenia Mishonova, previously proposed restricting access to Roblox in Russia. In late November, she labeled the platform a "plague" and noted that there’s nothing good for children in Roblox.
If Roblox is indeed officially blocked in Russia, it will not be unprecedented for the platform. Currently, access to it is either fully or partially restricted in several countries, including Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq.
Representatives from Roblox have not commented on the access issues in Russia.
Update at 18:00: Roskomnadzor officially announced the blocking of Roblox in Russia. The reason cited was the presence of prohibited materials on the platform.
“Roskomnadzor has restricted access to the American internet service Roblox due to identified cases of widespread and repeated distribution of materials advocating and justifying extremist and terrorist activities, calls for illegal violent actions, and promotion of LGBT* themes,” — stated the agency's announcement.
*The international LGBT movement is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.