Louisiana’s top prosecutor is suing Roblox, accusing the platform of failing to safeguard children from online predators and referring to it as the “perfect place for pedophiles.”
Attorney General Liz Murrill filed the suit on Thursday in Louisiana’s 21st Judicial District, accusing the Roblox Corporation of recklessly designing its platform without a robust age verification process.
According to the 42-page filing, tens of millions of users can easily create accounts with false birthdays, allowing adults to pose as children and minors to bypass controls meant to protect those younger than 13.
About 20 percent of Roblox’s 82 million users are under the age of nine, according to the company’s 2024-25 annual report.
The platform offers a vast catalogue of games and “experiences,” a significant number of which are designed by users and include real-time messaging with a smaller portion offering voice chat for 13-plus accounts.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill shared a screenshot from her suit of an in-game experience called ‘Escape to Epstein Island’ (Liz Murrill/X)
The suit points to a tranche of sexually explicit in-game “experiences” on the platform. They include “Escape to Epstein Island,” referencing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and 600 games relating to Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was found guilty last month on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Another experience called “Public Showers,” where users are encouraged to “roleplay and relax” together, had more than 580,000 visits, according to a Louisiana DOJ screenshot shared by Murill on X.
The suit alleges that a man arrested in Louisiana last month on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse material was using the platform at the time he was taken into custody. He had allegedly used voice-altering technology to mimic the sound of a young female to lure and sexually exploit minors on the platform.
Attorney General of Louisiana Liz Murrill filed the lawsuit on Thursday against the Roblox Corporation (Getty Images)
It also accuses Roblox of unfair trade practices, negligence, and unjust enrichment, seeking a permanent order barring the company from violating Louisiana law or misrepresenting its safety features.
According to the filing, the Roblox Corporation’s “failure to implement adequate safety features and its failure to provide notice of the danger, provides the perfect place for pedophiles.”
In a statement released Thursday, Murill said: “Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety.
“Every parent should be aware of the clear and present danger [posed] to their children by Roblox so they can prevent the unthinkable from ever happening in their own home.”
A spokesperson for Roblox declined to comment on the allegations when pressed by NBC News, citing pending litigation. They said the company dedicates “substantial resources” to help “detect and prevent inappropriate content and behavior, including attempts to direct users off platform, where safety standards and moderation may be less stringent than ours.”
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna has launched an online petition against Roblox, accusing the platform of insufficient child safety measures (Getty Images for Court Accountab)
The company is facing a growing wave of lawsuits related to child safety and exploitation, including a federal filing in Texas alleging that an 8-year-old boy was sexually exploited on the platform.
Roblox is also under bipartisan scrutiny, with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna launching an online petition against Roblox, accusing the platform of insufficient child safety measures. He hopes to garner one million signatures by Friday.
Louisiana State Representative, Lauria Schlegal, a Republican, said that Murill’s lawsuit was “great news,” writing on X: “Roblox has been one of the worst at protecting children on its platform and every year, they fight my online child protection bills.”
David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox, has faced growing calls to step down after the company’s battle with so-called vigilantes (Getty)
Roblox’s CEO and founder, David Baszucki, has faced calls to resign after his company sent a cease and desist letter to a YouTuber known for exposing alleged child predators.
The Roblox Corporation reportedly issued a legal complaint last week to a 22-year-old content creator known as “Schlep,” a self-styled “predator hunter” who claims his investigations led to six arrests of individuals attempting to groom minors on the platform.
A petition calling for Baszucki to “fix what he’s caused or resign” had more than 64,000 signatures by Friday morning. Another video citing the petitions for the Roblox CEO’s resignation surpassed 1.3 million views on YouTube.
