Children in Russia have inundated the Kremlin with grievances regarding the ban on the Roblox gaming platform, as reported by President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson on Tuesday.

On December 3, the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor announced that it had blocked access to the U.S.-owned Roblox, alleging that the platform disseminates extremist content and endorses “LGBT propaganda.”

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, indicated that the Kremlin has received “numerous” letters from young individuals concerning the issue in advance of the presidential press conference and televised Q&A session scheduled for December 19.

His comments followed those of pro-Kremlin censorship advocate Yekaterina Mizulina, who claimed to have received 63,000 letters from children aged eight to 16, with about half of them expressing a desire to emigrate from Russia due to the Roblox ban.

“They don’t explicitly mention leaving [Russia], but they do talk about their support for this game,” Peskov stated to reporters.

In its announcement, Roskomnadzor contended that children using Roblox were “subjected to sexual harassment, manipulated into sharing intimate photos, and coerced into participating in immoral acts and violence.”

The regulator indicated that the game contains “inappropriate material that could adversely affect the spiritual and moral development of minors.”

The Roblox Corporation, based in California and owner of the gaming platform, maintains that it moderates all content using a combination of human oversight and artificial intelligence tools aimed at eliminating “exploitative content.”

Approximately 100 million individuals worldwide engage with Roblox daily, with children under 13 representing nearly 40% of its user base, according to the company’s information.

Roblox was recognized as the most downloaded mobile game in Russia for 2023.

Reporting from AFP contributed to this story.