Roblox in Russia: why it stopped working and what changed in 2026

Your child complains the game won’t start, while the news keeps switching between reports of a block and reports of it being lifted. Let’s work out why Roblox is not working in Russia for some players and what has changed over the past year, from the decision of Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator, to the statement by the Ministry of Digital Development. Below you’ll find the dates and the official statements, what our October 12, 2026 measurement on networks in Russia, the Netherlands and Germany showed, and what Roblox’s own rules say about accounts, purchases and VPNs.

Why Roblox stopped working in Russia: a timeline

A little over six months passed between the block and its removal. The dates and quotes are taken from reports by news agencies and business media, and from Roblox itself.

• December 3, 2025. Roskomnadzor (RKN) restricted access to Roblox. As Interfax reported, the regulator cited “mass and repeated distribution of materials” promoting and justifying extremist and terrorist activity, calls for violent unlawful acts, and propaganda of LGBT topics (the international LGBT movement is designated extremist and banned in Russia). RKN also claimed that children in the game face harassment, and that the internal moderation system is unable to “ensure one hundred percent safety” of content.
• December 17, 2025. According to RKN, Roblox admitted that it had not paid enough attention to content in games and to the safety of messaging between players, and said it was ready to bring its work in Russia in line with Russian requirements step by step. The company itself, as Izvestia reported citing TASS, was prepared to temporarily restrict communication features in Russia so that access to the game would be restored.
• January 12, 2026. “At present, there are no grounds to unblock the Roblox platform,” RKN told RIA Novosti.
• April 20, 2026. Moscow’s Tagansky District Court fined Roblox Corporation 8 million rubles under Part 4 of Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, on two protocols at 4 million rubles each (Vedomosti).
• June 9, 2026. The Ministry of Digital Development and RKN asked law enforcement agencies to support lifting the restrictions. According to the ministry, Roblox admitted that its earlier technologies for protecting children from information dangerous to them “were ineffective,” and promised to launch, already in June, “a mechanism restricting access to games by age group”: Roblox Kids and Roblox Select (Interfax).
• June 10, 2026. The Ministry of Digital Development announced: “Roblox has fully met the requirements of Russian legislation on ensuring user safety,” and the gaming service “is again available throughout Russia” (Interfax, RIA Novosti). The same day, a CNews staff member opened the site in an ordinary browser without any extra tools.
• October 12, 2026. Vedomosti reported that the Moscow City Court upheld a 4 million ruble fine imposed on Roblox by the Tagansky court.

RKN did not name a specific article of law for the block itself, referring only to decisions of the authorized bodies. Interfax clarified that in 2025 the regulator repeatedly sent Roblox notices under Articles 15.1 and 15.3 of Federal Law No. 149-FZ on information, demanding that access to prohibited materials be restricted.

What our October 12, 2026 check showed

We checked www.roblox.com using Globalping, a public network of vantage points for network measurements: two measurements, at 22:34 and 22:36 UTC, eight checks in total, six of them from Russian networks. Globalping itself assigns the “home network” and “data center” tags. Our server abroad made one more request, directly, without a VPN. We did not sign in to an account, did not launch any games, and did not test chat or payments.

What happened to accounts, Robux and purchases

It was Roskomnadzor, not Roblox, that restricted access, and we have not come across reports that the company deleted Russian players’ accounts or took away their Robux because of the block. Still, the rules on the in-game currency are worth knowing, especially for parents. Below are clauses of Roblox’s User Terms in the version in force on October 12, 2026; the same page already announces a new version taking effect on November 1, 2026.

• Robux are not money. Under Section 3(a), Robux have no equivalent value in real currency, and under Section 3(b) a purchase gives only a limited, revocable license to use them within the service.
• No refunds. Section 3(d): except as required by law, all payments for Robux are final and not refundable.
• Buy only inside Roblox itself. Section 3(c) forbids obtaining Robux and virtual items outside the service: such a transaction is void and may lead to the immediate suspension or termination of the account. Roblox takes no responsibility for third-party “Robux shops.”
• Only adults can pay. Under Section 5(a), only users who have reached the age of majority may make financial transactions on the platform, including buying Robux and a subscription. A minor, as the introduction to the terms says, may use the service after a parent or guardian has read and accepted the terms, and that adult is responsible for all of the child’s activity on the platform, including purchases.
• An account is lost together with its items. Section 2(e): for violating the terms or the Community Standards, Roblox may suspend or terminate the account and, along with it, close access to Robux, experiences and purchased items.

Whether Robux can currently be paid for from Russia, and by what methods, we did not check, so we offer no payment advice.

Roblox opens but chat is unavailable: what’s going on

• A restriction for Russian players. Back in December 2025, Roblox spoke of being ready to temporarily restrict communication in Russia. According to players’ early reports, cited by CNews on June 10, 2026, chat stayed switched off for them after the unblocking. We haven’t seen this firsthand: we did not sign in.
• Age checks. Since June 16, 2026, Roblox has been sorting players worldwide into age-based accounts: Roblox Kids for children aged 5–8, Roblox Select for ages 9–15, and a standard account from age 16 and only after an age check. Anyone who has not passed the check cannot chat on Roblox at all, whatever their age.
• A reduced catalog for children. The Kids and Select catalogs include games that have passed additional review, while games with social hangout or free-form drawing features are not admitted. So a child’s account may simply not show some familiar games. The exact age thresholds, games and features, according to the company, vary by region.
• Parental controls. A parent who has linked their account to a child’s manages the friends list, screen time and spending limits until the child turns 13, and chat settings and access to specific games until 16.

Roblox won’t open at all: where to look for the cause

In our measurement, the Roblox home page opened from all six Russian networks, so there is no sign of a nationwide block right now. If neither the site nor the app loads for you, compare: do other sites open, does mobile internet behave the same way, does Roblox work for friends with a different provider? If the game doesn’t work for anyone, including friends abroad, the cause most likely lies with Roblox itself. It’s also worth checking the app version: the Account Location help article says Roblox publishes regional apps and tells players itself which version to install.

What Roblox’s rules say about VPNs and region

Roblox’s User Terms never use the word “VPN.” It does show up in the Account Location help article: the account region is detected automatically from device signals, including the IP address, and using a VPN connection may affect how accurately the location is determined. Roblox uses the region to choose ads, default settings and the app version. Section 10(b), item (c), of the terms forbids circumventing technical measures designed to protect the service; whether Roblox counts regional restrictions among them, the text does not specify. Section 19(e) requires compliance with applicable laws, and Section 2(e) allows the account to be suspended or terminated for violations. On January 3, 2026, Habr reported complaints from players, including some in Russia, about permanent account bans for getting around restrictions; we did not find a rule worded that way in the terms, but we can’t rule out such cases either. What Russian law says about VPNs themselves is covered separately: whether VPNs are allowed in Russia and what is banned.

A week at no cost: a foreign Liberum VPN location for adults

For the game itself, judging by our measurement, a VPN is not needed right now: Roblox opened on every Russian network where we checked it. A foreign IP is meant for services that are closed to Russian addresses, and since June 10 Roblox is not one of them. If the Roblox home page won’t load for you specifically, even though other sites work, an adult user can try one of the foreign locations for free: the Netherlands, Germany or Georgia. The trial lasts 7 days, and no bank card is needed for it. We did not open Roblox through a Liberum VPN connection, so we don’t guarantee the result; it may work in your case.

How to do it: go to the Liberum VPS bot, switch on the free period there, pick the country you need, put the subscription link the bot gives you into a client app (Happ, for example, will do), connect, and then visit roblox.com. Every customer connected to a given country shares that location’s address. Keep in mind the rules from the previous section: with a foreign address, the account region may change, and we do not suggest getting around the restrictions Roblox introduced for Russian players. We advise against connecting a child’s Roblox account through a VPN: according to Roblox, default settings depend on the account region, and age limits and features vary by region. The trial is for adults only. Prices and countries are described on the page Liberum VPN: a VPN for people in Russia.

What we don’t promise

• That your account won’t be banned. Under Roblox’s terms, the company may suspend or terminate an account for violations, along with access to Robux (Section 2(e)), and circumventing technical protection measures is forbidden (Section 10(b), item (c)); Habr wrote about complaints of permanent bans.
• That Roblox will load through our location. We haven’t tried it that way: the page was received by Globalping vantage points in the Netherlands and Germany and by our server abroad without a VPN.
• That the account region will stay the same. Roblox determines it from device signals, including the IP address.
• That chat will start working. According to players’ reports, the platform itself switched chat off for Russia, and we advise against getting around this through a VPN.
• That access to Roblox in Russia will last. Claims against the company remain: in October 2026, the Moscow City Court upheld a fine. We won’t try to predict what happens next.

Key takeaways

• On December 3, 2025, Roskomnadzor shut off access to Roblox, citing extremist materials, calls for violence and threats to children.
• On June 10, 2026, the Ministry of Digital Development announced that Roblox had met the requirements and that the service was available throughout Russia again.
• On October 12, 2026, the roblox.com home page opened in all 6 checks from Russia and in 2 from abroad.
• In June, according to Russian players’ early reports, chat remained switched off for them (we have not checked how things stand now), and without an age check chatting on Roblox is impossible anywhere.
• Robux are not refunded, can be bought only inside Roblox itself and only by adults; if an account is suspended, access to them goes too.
• An adult can test a foreign Liberum VPN location at no cost for 7 days; the outcome isn’t guaranteed.