The FBI recently issued a warning to parents that sexual predators are increasingly finding and exploiting kids via online games like Minecraft -- where kids as young as 8 can create their own accounts and play. These predators use Minecraft to meet kids, groom them, and then trick or coerce them into sending sexual images and even meeting up in person! Microsoft must act now to keep sexual predators away from kids.

Minecraft exploded in popularity during the pandemic, and millions of children began playing for the first time. It's even being increasingly used in classrooms, giving parents and kids the impression that the game is safe for even younger children. Microsoft needs to do the following to help keep kids safe:

• Make safety improvements to the chat function to make it harder for predators to contact kids and send them inappropriate messages and images
• Add moderators to group chats
• Limit private messaging to older teens or adults