Epstein Islands and other violent crime recreations on Roblox

Abstract

Roblox is one of the world’s largest digital platforms, with an average of 151 million daily active users—of whom 56% are under the age of 17. This report presents the results of an exploratory study of user-generated violent and sexual crime recreations on Roblox conducted in April 2026. Using keyword searches on Roblox and other social media platforms, we found evidence of avatars, digital environments, and role-play activities themed around real-world violent and sexual crimes. While Roblox formally prohibits this type of content under its community standards, a growing body of evidence suggests that virtual world crime recreations are part of a recurring pattern of content that is not fully addressed by existing moderation systems, reflecting an inherent problem with Roblox’s user-generated content model. The report concludes with a summary of the key content moderation, regulatory, and policy challenges raised by these findings.