TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) -- With the holidays quickly approaching, your children may be asking for virtual currency for online gaming!
Roblox has exploded in popularity among kids and tweens, but recent reports have sparked calls for the platform to do more to protect its young users.
Roblox had more than 68 million daily users last year. The online gaming platform said it plans on stopping kids under 13 from directly messaging other gamers. Those measures have not been implemented just yet.
Sheriff's investigators in Pensacola stumbled on a disturbing case of alleged child abuse in October. Deputies said a 2-month-old was hurt when a 10-year-old girl intentionally dropped the baby on a tile floor.
Detectives later arrested Tara Sykes, 36, they say Sykes told the girl, "various methods to kill" the infant while messaging on Roblox.
"I just can't wrap my head around it; to say it's disturbing is the least of my thoughts on this situation," said Sheriff Chip Simmons, Escambia County Sheriff's Office.
Simmons said Skyes also instructed the girl to kill her foster parents by "cutting their throats with a knife while they were asleep, and to burn down the home by dousing bed sheets with aerosol spray."
Fortunately, the girl didn't go through with Skyes instructions.
"You never know who's going to be there and who they're talking to they could be saying they're 18 years old and they're 35, 40, 50," said Rita Mercer-Boutin, grandmother.
Now parents and grandparents are voicing their concerns that not everyone on these popular online platforms is there just for fun.
"Luckily it's not the majority," said Kirsten Vernon, mother. "The majority of people aren't predators out there, but there are some, so you have to talk to your kids about it, and keep them aware. I don't think that feature needs to be there."
A recent report by Bloomberg highlighted examples of inappropriate contact and content on Roblox. The creators of Roblox have defended the platform, saying the safety of children who use Roblox is always a focus and vowing to introduce "significant updates" to parental controls.
The company said users under 13 will need parents' permission to access certain chat features. Those under 9 will need permission to play anything labeled "moderate" content and parents will be able to monitor communication between their children and other users.
While these changes are in the works, they aren't in effect yet. Roblox says they'll be implemented by March.