Talking about some serious *bobba* in Habbo

Thursday, Jan 15, 2009 / Writer: Mikko Rusama, Director, Customer Service & Moderation


For us in Habbo, user safety has always been a top priority and our teams work hard every day to keep the virtual world as safe and fun as possible. Among the serious issues that can be seen in different online services are different sex related activities, whether that is sharing nude images or even webcam sex.

According to a "Sex and Tech" survey done in November 2008, 21% of teen girls and 18% of teen boys have sent/posted nude or semi-nude images of themselves on the internet. This statistic alone shows the serious nature of the topic.

The global "Let's talk about Bobba" safety campaign implemented in all Habbo communities during January and February 2009 is raising awareness about the dangers of sharing personal information and pictures, and webcam sex in the Internet. The word "Bobba" in the campaign name refers to Habbo’s language-filtering tool, which filters out offensive words including racist and sexist language as well as personal information.

As a result of the campaign, our aim is that our users should understand why sending personal information and pictures may be very risky and why they should not accept webcam requests from strangers. We sincerely hope that all online services aimed at the younger audience will actively discuss and educate about this topic.

Check out the Habbo.com campaign page for further information.