Roblox Cases Continue to Rise.
Roblox, a popular online gaming platform, is facing public scrutiny as numerous sexual abuse lawsuits are being filed against the company. In 2024, the website had nearly 83 million average daily active users and reported $3.6 billion in revenue, according to its financial reports.
Now, Roblox is facing over 35 lawsuits and thousands of child sexual abuse claims. Parents of children across the nation assert that the platform is being utilized by predators to exploit and groom youth.
States like Louisiana and Kentucky have filed lawsuits against the company, and Florida's attorney general recently subpoenaed Roblox to gather crucial information about its age verification and chat moderation policies.
In the face of these allegations, the gaming platform maintains that protecting children is their priority and that safety measures are in place – including age verification driven by artificial intelligence.
"We are deeply troubled by any allegations about harms to children online and are committed to setting the industry standard for safety," a spokesperson for Roblox told ABC News. "To protect our users, we have rigorous, industry-leading policies, including limiting chat for younger users and employing advanced filters designed to block the sharing of personal information. Roblox also does not allow users to share images or videos. We also collaborate closely with law enforcement."
Parents are noticing disturbing patterns in predators’ behavior – what seems like innocent conversation focused on gameplay gradually takes a dark turn as users entice children to move from Roblox to other chat services like Discord. Adults pose as young children and promise to exchange in-game currency, Robux, in order to manipulate youth.
One father’s case against Roblox prompted a California judge to push back against the company’s request to privately resolve the dispute. In the lawsuit, the man identified as Steve stated that his son was groomed and subsequently threatened once he did not show up for an arranged in-person meeting. "[The predator] had our home address, what school he went to, his phone number, everything," the boy’s father said.
Alexandra Walsh, the attorney representing Steve and over 12 additional clients suing the platform, said Roblox's response to the lawsuit was to request to settle claims confidentially through a third party.
"[It was] a motion to silence this family, to prevent this family from presenting what happened to them to a judge and jury, and instead put it into a secret rigged system," Walsh said. "Roblox has followed suit in multiple other cases ... they've either filed similar motions to compel arbitration, or made very clear that they intend to do so."
Parents and guardians are concerned about the ways criminals are able to bypass carefully set control features. “I did all my research," Steve said. "I did my best to enable every parental control I could find, and a lot of them are pretty confusing, but I tried my best to keep him safe online and teach him as best I could, and it still happened."
Roblox faces scrutiny across the nation as lawsuits grow by the day. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird filed a lawsuit against Roblox after a 13-year-old girl was abducted from her grandmother’s house and sexually abused by a predator she met in a chat room. Bird disputed Roblox’s promises of safety, asserting that “the platform lacked necessary guardrails and facilitated the sexual exploitation of teen and preteen children and the distribution of child sexual abuse material.”
In New York State, Senator Andrew Gounardes has proposed the “NY Children’s Online Safety Act,” which would build on the SAFE for Kids Act and the New York Social Media Warning Label Act to enforce online safety measures.
Worldwide, over 300 million children experience virtual sexual exploitation and abuse, and recent reports of child sexual abuse material have skyrocketed to a record high: over 36 million per year.
Lawsuits are ongoing, and experts urge parents to engage their children in conversations about boundaries and virtual safety.
Authors: Andy Goldwasser and Alex Kabat
