The Brief
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Several lawsuits from Central Florida accuse Roblox of prioritizing user growth over child safety.
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The popular gaming app says it’s been making safety improvements.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Roblox has been around for almost two decades now. It’s a free gaming app you can download onto a phone, tablet, computer, or gaming console.
Roblox became extremely popular during the pandemic, and is now a multi-billion-dollar company with 112 million daily active users in the U.S. alone – 40 million of them, under the age of 13, according to the company’s own reports.
The backstory
The app encourages users to interact with one another. That interaction is not always positive.
In fact, there are three lawsuits from Central Florida filed recently, all claiming the interaction is often predatory and criminal. They also allege the company is dishonest about its safety resources, putting kids at risk, and prioritizing user growth over child safety.
The lawsuits
Matt Dolman is representing a family who says a predator reached out to their 11-year-old daughter on Roblox, and convinced her to send sexually explicit images in exchange for “Robux” – the virtual currency the app uses.
“It is a fertile hunting ground for sexual predators. It’s like a playground for them,” Dolman said. “Kids should not be on Roblox at all.”
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Another lawsuit filed a couple of weeks ago details a 14-year-old girl in Brevard County not only being sexually exploited, but also being coerced by “several” predators into repeatedly cutting herself.
And one filed back in May says a predator sexually exploited a 13-year-old girl, distributed explicit images of her online, and then blackmailed her by threatening to tell her parents.
Kids in both of those suits say they wound up attempting suicide.
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“They’ve introduced a product that’s meant to be consumed by minors that was never meant to safe,” said Dolman.”Roblox didn’t care until they were made to care. They were made to care about those filing lawsuits. So, until we would take them to task, Roblox will continue on as if business is normal.”
What Roblox says
Roblox told FOX 35 in a statement they can’t comment on claims raised in litigation, but said, “Roblox’s vision is to be the safest place on the internet.
The company added, “While no system is perfect, this year alone we have made over 100 safety enhancements to help protect our users and empower parents and caregivers with greater control and visibility. “
The safety features
Dolman’s newly-filed complaint says the problem with the platform starts with their age verification system.
“It’s relying on self-reported information from children who notoriously are going to lie to get on the platform,” Dolman argued. “It does nothing to separate adults from children, which is the very problem that we’re dealing with. It does not. It’s just lip service. It’s pure BS.”
Attorney General James Uthmeier has issued subpoenas to learn more about Roblox’s security features as more and more parents claim they trusted “deceptive representations” about “state-of-the-art safety measures.”
In their most recent filing with the SEC, from December 2024… Roblox acknowledged, “The success of our business model is contingent upon our ability to provide a safe online environment for our users, many of whom are children.”
The Source
This story was written based on information from court filings, Roblox, and an interview with Matt Dolman, who is an attorney who is representing a family that is suing Roblox.
