Roblox’s CEO on tariffs, TikTok and keeping kids safe online

Summary

Summary of "Roblox’s CEO on Tariffs, TikTok and Keeping Kids Safe Online" - POLITICO Tech

Podcast Information:

• Title: POLITICO Tech
• Host/Author: POLITICO
• Episode: Roblox’s CEO on Tariffs, TikTok and Keeping Kids Safe Online
• Release Date: April 14, 2025

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Introduction to Roblox and Its Ecosystem

Stephen Overle opens the discussion by highlighting Roblox's significant presence among younger audiences, noting its user base of over 90 million daily active users. He introduces Dave Baszucki, the co-founder and CEO of Roblox, emphasizing Baszucki's role in bridging the virtual platform with real-world challenges, particularly concerning online safety for children.

Notable Quote:

"Roblox is a place where every day over 90 million people come to play games together, to socialize, sometimes to do more than games, to participate in a fashion show, to learn about Mars."
— Dave Baszucki [02:09]

Baszucki elaborates on Roblox as a multifaceted platform where both young and professional creators build diverse experiences. He underscores the platform's robust infrastructure, including trust, safety measures, and technological scalability that supports creators ranging from young enthusiasts to large game studios generating substantial revenues.

Impact of Tariffs on Roblox

The conversation shifts to the recent implementation of sweeping tariffs by the U.S. administration, led by President Donald Trump, and the ensuing market volatility.

Notable Quote:

"We look at every single country, we look at the imports minus the exports, we divide by the imports, we multiply by a number and that generates the tariff rate."
— Dave Baszucki [03:45]

Baszucki explains Roblox's nuanced position regarding tariffs, noting that the platform operates with a trade surplus, receiving significant revenue from international users. He expresses confidence that the tariffs will not severely impact Roblox due to its virtual economy's distribution and the controlled flow of virtual currency within the platform. He also touches on Roblox's support for legislative measures like the "Take It Down Act" and "COPA 2.0," which aim to enhance online safety for children by restricting image sharing and protecting personal identifiable information (PII).

Notable Quote:

"AI is helping platforms like ours that really lean into this, really make things better and better and better."
— Dave Baszucki [06:33]

AI and Online Safety

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Roblox's use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to maintain a safe environment for its predominantly young user base. Baszucki is optimistic about AI's role in filtering harmful content and preventing users, especially teenagers, from diverting to less safe platforms.

Notable Quote:

"We are generally against things like shadow banning or hidden algorithms. So general transparency for us has been a big boon."
— Dave Baszucki [15:34]

Baszucki highlights Roblox's commitment to transparency in its algorithms, contrasting it with other social media platforms that may employ obscured or manipulative algorithms. He emphasizes that transparent AI not only fosters trust among users and creators but also aids legislators in crafting informed and effective regulations.

Differentiation from Other Social Media Platforms

When asked about how Roblox distinguishes itself from traditional social media giants like TikTok and Instagram, Baszucki delineates Roblox as a 3D immersive platform focused on interactive experiences rather than passive content consumption.

Notable Quote:

"Roblox is very different. You know, it's a 3D platform where we might be in a fashion show together or we might play hide and seek."
— Dave Baszucki [07:48]

He explains that while platforms like TikTok focus on short-form video content, Roblox offers a space for collaborative and creative engagement, fostering a sense of community and connection among its users.

Regulatory Environment and Legislative Recommendations

Overle probes into the potential for Washington to regulate platforms like Roblox, especially concerning age verification and design standards. Baszucki advocates for leveraging AI advancements as solutions rather than imposing stringent regulations that might stifle innovation.

Notable Quote:

"Let's think through if AI can really get good at filtering text, voice and images, how can we build legislation around people who are doing that really well?"
— Dave Baszucki [11:56]

Baszucki urges legislators to consider the capabilities of existing technologies in addressing safety concerns, suggesting that intelligent policies should incentivize platforms that effectively utilize AI for moderation instead of imposing blanket regulations.

Roblox's Stance on TikTok Acquisition and Algorithm Transparency

The discussion turns to Roblox's involvement in the potential acquisition of TikTok. While Baszucki refrains from commenting on the specifics of the bid, he elaborates on the complexities surrounding TikTok's algorithm and user base.

Notable Quote:

"There’s a lot of complexity about what's the value of a platform, the algorithm versus the users."
— Dave Baszucki [15:00]

He emphasizes the importance of algorithm transparency, suggesting that platforms should allow creators to understand and influence how their content is distributed. This transparency fosters a fair environment and enhances user trust.

Future of AI and Legislative Oversight

Baszucki touches upon the broader implications of AI advancement, contemplating the balance between innovation and ethical considerations. He envisions a future where AI contributes positively to society while acknowledging the potential risks if AI becomes too autonomous or intrusive.

Notable Quote:

"I'm hoping we have very wise legislation there as well. There will be more of a free speech discussion there."
— Dave Baszucki [17:39]

He calls for thoughtful legislation that safeguards against misuse of AI without hindering its developmental potential, highlighting the ongoing debate between free speech and risk management in the context of AI technologies.

Conclusion

In closing, Dave Baszucki reaffirms Roblox's dedication to creating a safe, innovative, and transparent platform. He emphasizes the company's proactive approach in utilizing AI for content moderation and safety, advocating for legislative frameworks that support technological solutions over restrictive regulations.

Notable Quote:

"We have taken a lot of initiative in keeping those kids very, very safe."
— Dave Baszucki [09:03]

Stephen Overle wraps up the episode by thanking Baszucki for his insights, underscoring the importance of understanding the intersection between technology, regulation, and user safety in today's digital landscape.

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This episode provides a comprehensive look into Roblox's strategic responses to external economic pressures, its innovative use of AI for maintaining a safe online environment, and its perspective on broader regulatory challenges facing digital platforms today. Through Dave Baszucki's insights, listeners gain an understanding of how a leading tech company navigates the complexities of growth, safety, and innovation in an ever-evolving digital ecosystem.

Transcript

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[Stephen Overle]

Hey, welcome back to Play2Tech. I'm your host, Stephen Overle. If you don't know much about Roblox, just find a kid and ask them. Chances are they'll be one of more than 90 million users, many of them really young, who log on each day to play immersive games. As the co founder and CEO of Roblox, Dave Baszucki spends much of his time trying to bridge the virtual world that he's created and the real one he's living in. He's trying to stay ahead of lawmakers worried about kids safety online, arguing that AI can be used to protect them without what he sees as burdensome regulation. That's actually what brought him to Washington last week, meetings with lawmakers and a stop by POLITICO's headquarters. But being the head of a public company presents other challenges irl. Like when the President imposes sweeping global tariffs and causes the stock market to spiral, then puts most of those tariffs on hold and leaves the world in limbo. On the show today, Dave and I dig into all of that, plus his long shot bid to buy TikTok. Here's our conversation. Dave, thank you so much for being here.

[Dave Baszucki]

Steve, thank you for having me on your podcast.

[Stephen Overle]

Of course. Appreciate you doing it. You know Roblox, when I think of it, it is a household name if you have kids of a certain age, if you're a tech reporter like me.

[Dave Baszucki]

That's right.

[Stephen Overle]

There are going to be folks though who are not as familiar with your company. When you meet those folks, how do you explain what you do? How do you explain this? Roblox digital world?

[Dave Baszucki]

Yeah, thanks for the big step back and taking a big glimpse of what Roblox is. So Roblox is a place where every day over 90 million people come to play games together, to socialize, sometimes to do more than games, to participate in a fashion show, to learn about Mars, to do all of these. It's a platform where everything on this 3D immersive platform is made by the creator community. 9 year olds, 12 year olds, people Making for fun. But more and more as Roblox has grown, first class game studios side by side with some of those studios employing hundreds of people and some of those studios making tens of millions of dollars. So there's a vision here that a platform where it's really easy to create, where it's really easy to reach, the world where there's a lot of things built in like trust, safety, civility, auto scaling, automatic translation, making something that'll run on a phone or a tablet or a computer, allows a 13 year old who's interested in gaming to make a cool creation and maybe get a million people playing with it.

[Stephen Overle]

Got it. Well, I want to spend time talking about this digital world, but before we go deeper into that, we have to talk about the real world, the world we're living in today. And the big news this week is tariffs.

[Dave Baszucki]

That's right.

[Stephen Overle]

You know, President Donald Trump has put these sweeping tariffs in place. The stock markets have been quite volatile. As the CEO of a public company, what are your concerns right now?

[Dave Baszucki]

So it's interesting, right, we've been riffing about these tariffs and in a sense they're an algorithm for computing tariffs, almost.

[Stephen Overle]

Tell me about that.

[Dave Baszucki]

Well, the tariffs. My understanding of these tariffs is we look at right now, at least we look at every single country, we look at the imports minus the exports, we divide by the imports, we multiply by a number and that generates the tariff rate. So this is a system for generating a tariff rate for us. What's interesting is we have a lot of creators all around the world. We have creators in Dubai, we have creators in South America, we have creators in Germany, all of that. So we've been trying to analyze it from a Roblox point of view. Roblox generally has maybe a trade surplus. There's a fair amount of money coming into the United States from all of these people playing on our platform. So we haven't seen a big effect for ourselves.

[Stephen Overle]

Is there an effect that you're expecting or that you're worried about when you're dealing in sort of this kind of space, the digital world? I mean, how direct of an impact could these tariffs have?

[Dave Baszucki]

We don't believe there's going to be a big impact on us just based on the distribution of our economy and based on the way money flows in our system. There is a thing, you know, we're really systems designers, so we're not as talented as any of the professional economists that are out there in the real world. But Roblox is a really complex economy. We have virtual currency. We could have inflation if we printed too much of it. We have ebbs and flows and all of that. So. So we are pretty experienced in running a tight, solid economy. And there is a notion I think of as we look at these tariffs, of what I think the administration is trying to do is country by country, think about is there some level of symmetry there with the tariffs that have.

[Stephen Overle]

Been announced and the way they've affected the markets. How much is that dominating your conversations you're having right now? I mean, it's along the lines, but.

[Dave Baszucki]

We are in dc. We're here supporting the Take It Down Act, Senator Klobuchar and Senator Cruz. A really interesting thing because when people are online today, a lot of platforms that allow image sharing, younger people get trapped in a catfishing scenario or they share their. They might share some image at some.

[Stephen Overle]

You don't allow image sharing?

[Dave Baszucki]

We don't allow that at all. And so we support that. So that's a measure to take down images in 48 hours. So we're also here supporting COPA 2.0, which is a child privacy law. It's around PII, it's around keeping really kids safe in an advertising type context. So everything we've talked about for advertising is only targeting 18 and up. It's a reason why we would be in support of that as well. So we have a lot of experience with young people and we want to be a resource.

[Stephen Overle]

I was going to ask you what legislation you're supporting. So it's interesting to hear your backing, both Take it down and coppa, the experience that you have out on the platform, especially deploying AI. What do regulators in Washington need to know from that experience?

[Dave Baszucki]

What I think they need to know is AI is helping platforms like ours that really lean into this, really make things better and better and better. I'm very optimistic about what AI can do on our platform. We've taken a little bit of a notion of safety by default. So it's not just 12 and under, it's 13 is 17. We're very public that even in the 13 through 17 age range, we do look at text, we do filter text. So AI is gonna go beyond maybe what people think of as the very simple things, bullying, self harm, those kind of things, into helping us be very careful that people don't jump off our platform. It's really one of the biggest things we look at in that age range is keeping people on Roblox so they can't go somewhere else and start sharing images, for example.

[Stephen Overle]

Got it. So the other platforms are less safe, you feel than Roblox.

[Dave Baszucki]

I wanna just comment in 13 through 17, where typically when platforms go over 13, there' little bit of a hands off. We've taken it upon ourselves to focus on this area as well and apply AI in that area as well.

[Stephen Overle]

Got it. Because I know one thing that Roblox has tried to do is differentiate itself from social media platforms, right? The Instagrams and Tiktoks. Walk me through that differentiation. How do you draw the line?

[Dave Baszucki]

Social media is a big wide term, as we both know. There's one form of social media that I think of as short form video consumption. 2am, I can't sleep, I wake up and I scroll videos every 10 or 15. And there's a lot of platforms that do that. Shorts, reels, spotlight, TikTok. A lot of people are building those types of product. There is another type of social media that you and I might think of as Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Instagram. Today, where are we sharing cat pictures or are we sharing pictures of ourselves? Are we sharing news clips, those kind of sharing platforms? Roblox is very different. You know, it's a 3D platform where we might be in a fashion show together or we might play hide and seek. We're together, we're with other people, we're communicating and we're doing fun stuff. So we do feel there's a benefit of connection on a platform like ours. A benefit of not being by yourself, a benefit for many, many young people of, you know, being with their peeps kind of thing.

[Stephen Overle]

Got it. Well, I guess the question I have is sort of Washington is having to decide whether or not to regulate these platforms. Right. And what restrictions to put in place. Things like age, verific or design standards.

[Dave Baszucki]

That's right.

[Stephen Overle]

Are you trying to draw a different standard for yourself than these other platforms?

[Dave Baszucki]

One way to approach it is hey Washington, look at what we're doing on our own already without regulators. Look at how far we've gone without law for 12 and under. Filtering all text, filtering all images, being very, very thoughtful. And in a way we're in a world like it or not today where, where 9, 10, 11 and 12 year olds get on a lot of different apps. A lot of those young people get handed a phone and there's a lot of apps that are 13 and up that those people can get on and start doing interesting things to. So we've taken a lot of initiative in keeping those kids very, very safe. So I think it's a little bit of sharing what we've learned with legislators so we can do intelligent legislation.

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[Stephen Overle]

You were talking about Roblox and this idea that not only can play games there, but there are fashion shows that sort of people living in a way in this digital world. Right. And we used to refer to that as the metaverse, a term of phrase that's no longer as popular as it once was. But you spend time in a world that most of Washington wouldn't really understand or doesn't spend a whole lot of time in. What are kind of the concerns or risks or challenges that Washington should be focusing on that maybe it isn't?

[Dave Baszucki]

Yeah. I would say a couple things. A lot of people in Washington now have 15 year olds and 17 year olds and 21 year olds that they can consult with. So they are getting really connected with that. And the notion to Washington that we went through a lot of questions when the web first came out. We went through a lot of questions when we started having video on the platform. We thought a lot about zoom and video type. Communication technology does march forward and technology like 3D communication and connection, whether it's for learning or entertainment or playing together, keeps marching forward. So there are cues that we can take in thinking about that. If I had to make a recommendation on where to go with legislation, I do think some thought around platforms that have leaned in really hard on AI filtering, AI moderation, thinking through how far that technology might go as a solution rather than other forms of legislation.

[Stephen Overle]

Got it. So the technology may be.

[Dave Baszucki]

I think these technology is more and more going to solve this. So let's think through if AI can really get good at filtering text, voice and images, how can we build legislation around people who are doing that really well?

[Stephen Overle]

Interesting. Most folks don't want a lot of regulation on AI for that reason.

[Dave Baszucki]

That's right.

[Stephen Overle]

Worries about kind of hampering its development.

[Dave Baszucki]

Yeah. My point here is the use of it rather than hampering it. And I think also on the hill, we're right in the middle of this. We have 200 AI models. We're starting to introduce 3D generation from AI. So that you or I could be walking around Roblox and if you like a certain type of house or a certain type of car, rather than trying to design it by hand, you could talk about it.

[Stephen Overle]

Right.

[Dave Baszucki]

Have that house pop up in your Roblox world, decorate it by talking about it, build your car, those kind of things. We are very much in the middle of this. You are exactly right. In one sense, AI can be scary. Could you do something bad with it if it fell into the wrong hands? In the other side, AI is trained on all the world's information. It's taking all the books and newspapers and technical reports, compacting them, making them easy, accessible, drawing some linkage. And so from that other side, in a sense, AI is free speech. You know, it's a better way of accessing the library. And I think those discussions are happening right now. That free speech tension versus the, the risk tension.

[Stephen Overle]

Right, Absolutely. Let me ask you this topic that is not directly related to Roblox, but TikTok.

[Dave Baszucki]

Yeah.

[Stephen Overle]

You know, right now the White House is negotiating some sort of deal to save TikTok. I understand you were part of a bid for platform along with YouTuber Mr. Beast and some other tech folks. What's the status of your involvement and interest in that front?

[Dave Baszucki]

This is a really interesting thing. I won't talk a lot about my involvement about as much as what I think the challenges are here. Yeah, you and I probably. I use those products a lot. Once again, shorts, reels, TikTok, you name it, Spotlight. And those products are essentially very easy to reproduce, except for one thing, an algorithm. How is it. On my third scroll, the first time I use one of these products, it figures out I want to see videos of cats fighting with ducks. Like how did it figure that out? These algorithms are very sophisticated. Matching people with like minded people, finding interesting things we like. From my experience, each one of these platforms is different in the algorithms. I get different feeds on each of them about different things. So I think that is the complexity. TikTok's algorithm is heavily in China. There's some debate about whether can you buy TikTok without the algorithm? If you do, is it TikTok, right?

[Stephen Overle]

Does it have any value?

[Dave Baszucki]

You bought all the users, but you didn't. Did you buy the algorithm or not? Can you license it? Can you have transparency? So I think There's a lot of complexity about what's the value of a platform, the algorithm versus the users. There's a lot of complexity behind the scenes that I'm not probably at the right level to comment on. You maybe more than me. On trade, there's probably both a TikTok discussion going on and a trade discussion going on at the same time.

[Stephen Overle]

Right. The latest reporting is that the tariffs and China's response to them kind of pulled the plug on a TikTok.

[Dave Baszucki]

So it might be difficult negotiating both TikTok and trade at the same time.

[Stephen Overle]

Yeah.

[Dave Baszucki]

And those are complexities I can't even fathom.

[Stephen Overle]

Are you still in the mix?

[Dave Baszucki]

I can't comment on that. My primary focus is Roblox, 100% Roblox. One thing we are doing at Roblox that we really believe in, we also have discovery algorithms for people finding a great place to play with your friends. So we know a little about this. The thing we are doing with our algorithms is making them very, very transparent. And that is allowing creators, in this case game creators instead of TikTok, video creators, to know generally how do you figure out what is important? And this has been very, very invigorating to our community. They think it's very, very fair. We are generally against things like shadow banning or hidden algorithms. So general transparency for us has been a big boon. And I am interested in the transparency of social media algorithms as well.

[Stephen Overle]

Got it. One more TikTok question. I know you can't comment on the state of your own bid here, the bid that you're a part of. I wonder what you see as kind of the future of that platform, you know, beyond how people know it today. But if it is in fact sold, it does have some new ownership. What do you see as the future.

[Dave Baszucki]

Of TikTok that I don't know. You know, for me, is there a deal where in some way that secret sauce of that algorithm or that learning can transfer and continue? I think that will be very powerful. In a way. I like the idea of transparency in these algorithms because in a sense these platforms dislike X, or just like the newspaper in certain ways are where some people get their news as well. And so there's a lot of discussion around if that's where people get their news. Can we have those algorithms be transparent so people can get their news from them as well? So I would like to see a world where those algorithms are more transparent and hopefully TikTok can stay as something we access.

[Stephen Overle]

Is that something that you think Washington could play a role in because there has been some talk around AI for instance, whether there needs to be a window into some of how AI makes decisions and the intelligence behind the artificial intelligence.

[Dave Baszucki]

This is a big discussion. This discussion is AI is not intelligent enough to be scary. What happens when AI gets intelligent enough to be scary? And a lot of smart people are thinking about that. I think we have a few years before that starts to happen when AI gets intelligent enough to maybe be scary or maybe actually be a human acceleration thing that makes life better. I'm hoping we have very wise legislation there as well. There will be more of a free speech discussion there. There's a lot of interesting moral questions that I wouldn't know the answer to. Imagine AI gets really, really good. You work on Washington and you ask that AI, what political party has the best platform for the standard of living? And it spits out an answer that's. That's starting to get into a kind of an interesting scary zone.

[Stephen Overle]

Got it. Well, listen, Dave, appreciate you being here on Politico Tech.

[Dave Baszucki]

Thank you. Let's go.

[Stephen Overle]

That's all for today's Politico Tech. If you enjoy Politico Tech, please subscribe and recommend it to a friend or colleague. And for more tech news, subscribe to our newsletters, Digital Future Daily and Morning Tech. Music in our show comes from the mysterious Brake Master cylinder. Our managing producer is Annie Reiss. Philip Frobos helped produce today's episode. I'm Steven Overlea. See you back here on Thursday.