Roblox 'predator hunter' Schlep claims to have turned down the chance to return to the platform after receiving an offer from an executive, saying he "will not trade [his] voice for a few Roblox accounts".
Schlep is a YouTuber with 2.25m subscribers who said he has accessed Roblox since he was eight-years-old and claims his actions over the years have led to the arrest of six alleged 'predators'.
He was banned from the platform in August earlier this year for violating the platform's terms of use and community standards through continued 'predator hunting'.
However this sparked a huge backlash online, so much so that a petition calling for the resignation of CEO David Baszucki has now gained more than 294,000 signatures.
In a new YouTube video called 'Roblox Contacted Me...', Schlep claims a senior Roblox executive contacted him to acknowledge his ban and asked if there was "some way we can keep you active in the Roblox community".
But Schlep has refused the return, saying the offer has missed the point of what he is campaigning for.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
In the video, Schlep said: "This was never about me getting unbanned. It was about the victims, the players, the community that has been neglected forever.
"This was just a PR war for Roblox.
"At this very moment, I'm still open to talk to Roblox about how it can fix safety problems but one key thing needs to happen - it needs to be in good faith."
Schlep claims he was contacted directly by a senior executive at Roblox despite his law firm instructing Roblox not to contact him this way and instead to go through the law firm, which the YouTuber describes as "inappropriate and self-serving".
He says his law firm responded and posted a draft of the letter on X / Twitter - but that Roblox has not responded.
"Maybe I could have come back to Roblox, maybe I could've even worked with it like it suggested but if a company cannot agree to something as basic as speaking good faith, then there's something deeper going wrong here," Schlep added.
"I will not trade my voice for a few Roblox accounts."
In August, Schlep posted on X / Twitter that he received a cease and desist letter from a law firm acting on behalf of Roblox.
The screenshots said: "This letter serves as a formal cease and desist notice regarding your unauthorised and harmful activities on the Roblox platform.
"Your actions are a violation of Roblox policies and directly undermine Roblox's safety efforts and, critically, are exposing our users to increased risk.
"Accordingly, and pursuant to Roblox's policies, Roblox will be closing your accounts. Please note that Roblox Community Standards prohibit opening new accounts to evade an enforcement action."
At the time, Schlep said in a YouTube video: "This is pretty heartbreaking to me because I've been playing since I was a little kid. I love this platform, I still do.
"I met my current girlfriend who I've been dating for three years, I live with her. We first met all the way back in 2016 through Roblox.
"I love so much about this site and that's why I'm so critical of it because I want it to see it do better."
Schlep went on to say he has tried to engage in conversation with Roblox multiple times about the best way to report suspicious users in a number of different ways to no avail and that Roblox banning his account is the first time he has heard from them directly.
In the video, Schlep himself said he was previously groomed on Roblox and his mother reporting this did not lead to the alleged groomer being banned which is why he took it upon himself to track down predators on the platform.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
When contacted about Schlep's latest claims, a Roblox spokesperson told indy100: ""Roblox is deeply committed to maintaining a safe experience for all users. Our policies are purposefully stricter than those found on many other platforms.
"We prohibit the sharing of images and videos in chat, use filters designed to block the exchange of personal information and our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content.
"We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and continue to invest in advanced safety systems to set the gold standard in online safety for the industry.
"We have introduced more than 145 safety measures on the platform this year alone and as a first for the industry, we recently announced we are working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features soon, which will help prevent adults from chatting with minors."
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