Roblox CEO David Baszucki’s appearance on the New York Times’ Hard Fork podcast is an absolute nightmare.
The interview was supposed to address Roblox’s mounting safety failures. Instead, it exposed something far more disturbing. Baszucki didn’t just avoid responsibility. He spoke like someone who’s incapable of comprehending the fact that children are being harmed on his platform.
A CEO who treats a child safety crisis like an opportunity
One of the co-hosts, Casey Newton, asked what Baszucki thinks about the predator problem on Roblox. He responded by stating the issue was “not necessarily just a problem, but an opportunity as well”.
That single sentence should be career ending. Children are being targeted by predators, and his instinct is to reframe the crisis as a chance to innovate.
Even when he tried to clarify the remark by talking about building better moderation tools, his remarks were revealing. No responsible leader talks about predators harming kids as fuel for product development. You protect children because they are being hurt, not because it might spark a new AI project.
He refused to acknowledge the platform’s issues
Newton pressed him further, raising the concern that Roblox has become a place where predators actively go to find children.
Baszucki rejected the idea outright. He insisted it was inaccurate despite the lawsuits, investigations, and the growing criticism. Roblox is facing more than twenty federal lawsuits. Multiple states have gotten involved. Chris Hansen came out of retirement to work on a documentary because the situation is so alarming.
Yet Baszucki acted like none of it mattered. He leaned on vague language about behavioral signals and age checks. He sidestepped questions about predators bypassing Roblox’s systems. He offered no clear plan.
The interview exposed his priorities
The rest of the conversation only made his disconnect clearer.
When the hosts brought up the 2024 Hindenburg Research report calling Roblox a pedophile hellscape, he responded with defensiveness. He tried to corner the hosts into agreeing with him. It was surreal to hear that kind of behavior from the CEO of a company under intense scrutiny for child safety failures.
Then came his comments about prediction markets. When asked if something similar to Polymarket belongs inside a game played by minors, he said yes. He called it a brilliant idea if done in a legal and educational way. The hosts pushed back immediately, calling it a horrible idea. That didn’t stop him from entertaining the concept. It was a stunning display of how far removed he is from reality.
By the end, he admitted he thought the conversation would be more light-hearted. That alone said everything. He expected to talk about anything other than the predator crisis affecting his platform.
A level of disconnect that should alarm every parent
What made the interview so disturbing was the tone behind his answers. He sounded irritated that safety was the focus. He sounded unbothered by the real harm happening to kids. It created the impression of a leader who not only lacks urgency but lacks basic understanding.
It was like trying to explain a house fire to someone who thinks smoke looks pretty.
Investors should be alarmed too
If Roblox’s investors and shareholders are paying attention, they should be demanding Baszucki’s resignation. A CEO who cannot acknowledge a crisis is incapable of fixing it. When that crisis involves predators targeting minors, denial crosses into negligence.
Roblox does not have a communications problem. It has a leadership problem. Until that is addressed, nothing else will change.
What parents need to do right now
Roblox needs to acknowledge the situation, along with some real accountability.
Until then, this podcast interview needs to go viral so that parents can uninstall Roblox from their children’s devices.
For now, parents are going to need to be proactive by banning their kids from using Roblox. How can you feel comfortable letting your kid play on a platform where its CEO thinks predators harming them is a business opportunity?
