Editor’s note: Details in this article may be disturbing to some readers.
A wave of lawsuits from Kentucky, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Oklahoma was filed against Roblox this fall, while Florida’s attorney general issued criminal subpoenas to the platform last week.
By Faith Montalvo
TAMPA, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued criminal subpoenas to the gaming platform Roblox on Oct. 20 to investigate concerns over child safety. This investigation comes after Kentucky and Louisiana each filed lawsuits in October and August, respectively, while three families from Wisconsin, Iowa, and Oklahoma are suing over child sexual exploitation.
The attorney general cited allegations that Roblox, which has approximately 111.8 million daily active users globally, has failed to moderate content, verify users’ ages, and report incidents to authorities.
“Platforms like Roblox have become breeding grounds for predators to gain access to our kids,” said Uthmeier in a press release. “We will stop at nothing in the fight to protect Florida’s children, and companies that expose them to harm will be held accountable.”
The subpoenas request extensive documents related to age verification policies and registering new accounts, parental controls, policies and safeguards to protect children, and chat moderation.
It also asks for lists of reports made to Roblox about child exploitation or grooming, accounts removed due to child safety concerns, and examples of marketing materials claiming that Roblox is child-friendly.
“Attorney General Uthmeier’s claims about Roblox are false, and the suggestion that illicit image sharing is happening on Roblox demonstrates a lack of understanding of our platform’s functionality,” said a Roblox spokesperson in a statement. “In fact, we prohibit the sharing of images and videos in chat, use filters designed to block the exchange of personal information, and our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content.”
Roblox’s statement said it will assist Uthmeier’s office in the investigations and shares his commitment to keeping kids safe. The response also said the platform is working to implement technology that estimates users’ age for all accounts.
“We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and investing in advanced safety systems to help protect our users and remove bad actors,” said the spokesperson.
Olivia Dodge, a sophomore film and media arts major at the University of Tampa, said she has played Roblox since she was in fifth grade. She said many people have asked for users’ names, ages, and where they are from.
“I think [the investigation] is good, because there are a lot of weird people on there,” Dodge said.
Dodge said she’s seen adults act between 8 and 11 years old while trying to get others’ information to chat off the platform, which is a common tactic for predators.
“As soon as someone would start asking weird questions,” Dodge said. “I would always be the first person, or try to be the first person to be like, ‘yo, why are you saying that?’”
Louisiana also filed a lawsuit against Roblox in August, citing a lack of safety protocols, games that simulate sexual activity that included gang rape, and reports of predators openly exchanging child sexual abuse material and soliciting minors on the platform.
Three families filed a lawsuit against Roblox this fall. In Wisconsin, a 5-year-old girl was allegedly exploited by adults who presented themselves as children and sent her explicit images of themselves. In Iowa, a 13-year-old girl was allegedly abducted from her home and sexually abused by a predator she met on the platform. A mother in Oklahoma is suing Roblox over the “sextortion” of her 12-year-old daughter, who was allegedly coerced into sending explicit images of herself to an adult man.
Oklahoma’s attorney general is also looking into possible legal action against Roblox.
Earlier this month, Kentucky attorney general Russell Coleman also filed a lawsuit against Roblox, alleging that the platform “created a playground” for predators and international terrorist organizations.
Coleman’s office also cited the case of a 25-year-old Kentucky man, who pleaded guilty to plotting the murder of a child and being a member of an extremist sextortion group that uses social platforms like Roblox to target children and recruit members.
“Our children are not safe on Roblox. Predators and criminals aren’t just lurking in the platform’s shadows; they’ve been allowed to commit their crimes out in the open,” said Coleman in a press release. “For years, Roblox has ignored this crisis so it could continue turning a profit.”
–
Car racing on Roblox. Photo courtesy of Roblox.