Dear [redacted - full name]
Thanks again for contacting us and please accept our apologies for the delay in responding.
We’re sorry that you weren’t happy with our initial response. Accuracy and impartiality are of the utmost importance to us - we listen carefully to what our audience tells us and have considered your comments in detail.
You said that the BBC’s editorial guidelines for accuracy were ‘violated’ over when the slogan ‘earn serious cash’ was first used by Roblox. File on 4 did not claim that it was published on the Roblox website in 2006. The programme said the slogan was included ‘soon after it was launched in 2006’ with the precise date it was incorporated by Roblox being unclear. However, the programme makers have evidence that the slogan was still present on the company’s website as recently as August 2021.
You also asked why games reviewer and journalist Quintin Smith was allowed to ‘make a blanket statement about Roblox developers being children.’ We’ve reviewed the programme and at no point does he suggest that Roblox developers are exclusively children. In fact the programme starts by hearing from Josh Monk-Dalton who’s 23 years old and a successful game developer.
When it comes to whether Roblox has taken action against games, File on 4 made it absolutely clear that the company had introduced an age rating for some games. The programme went on to demonstrate that these age ratings were in some cases irrelevant at that point in time. Our reporter - purporting to be an 8 year old girl – was still able to access a game with an age rating of 13. James Kay from Roblox was asked about this. Our reporter suggested to him: ‘Age restrictions aren’t on every game and they don’t work well’. Mr Kay responded by saying: ‘Experience guidelines are something we’ve just rolled out literally in the last few weeks, so it’s still rolling out and there will be those features in place to make sure parents can select the type of games that kids can play.’
The online safety bill could be an important part of children being better protected in the future on platforms like Roblox so it was right to hear views on this and some of the technology that could be used. The BBC is committed to due impartiality in all its reporting. However, it is worth noting that this does not mean that every aspect of a story is discussed within each individual report or programme. Instead, we aim to reflect a range of opinion over time and across our output as a whole, where there may also be more opportunity to explore an issue like the online safety bill in greater detail.
Thanks again for your feedback which have been shared with the programme and senior news managers.
This concludes Stage 1 of our complaints process. That means we can’t correspond with you further here. If you remain unhappy, you can now contact the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU). The ECU is Stage 2 of the BBC’s complaints process. You’ll need to explain why you think there’s a potential breach of standards, or if the issue is significant and should still be investigated. Please do so within 20 working days of this reply.
Full details of how we handle complaints are available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/.
[redacted - information about how to send response to the ECU]
Kind regards
BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints