Brian Hall recently shared his perspective on the regulatory implications Roblox’s advertising strategy may face in the GamesBeat article, "Roblox is turning its product roadmap into advertising inventory."
According to the piece, Roblox has been partnering with brands like e.l.f. Beauty and NYX Professional Makeup to sponsor new platform feature rollouts without being fully transparent with users about the advertorial nature of these brand campaigns. As Brian explains to GamesBeat, "There's not really a clear definition of what is an advertisement [on Roblox]; the FTC is the agency that regulates this, and they focus less on how you label it, or what Roblox is calling an ad versus not an ad, and more on how a user experiences it,"
Brian aptly questions the commercial purpose behind branded avatar items made available to users of all ages, including those under 13. "If you're going into the Roblox store, and it's saying, 'here's this branded makeup you can put on your avatar,' what really is the purpose, if not to drive outside sales?"
He believes this is the policy likely to tempt FTC scrutiny. "That's where Roblox is going to maybe find some risk, if they're taking this hard-line position that these things aren't advertisements, and [that] they're not showing ads to kids,” he observes. "If the FTC says, 'well, we think you actually are,' that's where they could get in trouble."
