Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing online game platform Roblox, alleging it prioritizes potential revenue and predators over the safety of young users. The Texas AG announced the suit in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “BREAKING: I’m suing Roblox for putting pixel pedophiles and profits over the safety of Texas children,” Paxton wrote on Thursday, Nov. 6. “We cannot allow platforms like Roblox to continue operating as digital playgrounds for predators where the well-being of our kids is sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed.”
Roblox, a digital sandbox that offers user-created “experiences,” touts itself as “the ultimate virtual universe that lets you create, share experiences with friends, and be anything you can imagine.” While in-game, players can explore other player-made content and even utilize real-time messaging to chat with other users. Roblox has implemented myriad measures in response to child safety concerns from experts and parents, including age verification for in-game communication and a “sensitive issues” tag for “experiences” with mature themes.
State Attorneys General Sue Roblox
Texas joins two other U.S. states — Kentucky and Louisiana — in filing formal suits against the social platform, all three alleging child safety concerns. Louisiana AG Liz Murrill was the first to file, submitting a suit in August. Kentucky AG Russell Coleman followed, formally accusing the company of minor safety missteps in October. While just three state attorneys general have sued, other state leaders have filed subpoenas requesting details about child safety and site moderation. Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond took “the first step into potential legal action against Roblox” in September, while Florida AG James Uthmeier issued criminal subpoenas to Roblox in October.
Read the full news release from Texas AG Ken Paxton:
“Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Roblox Corporation, a multi-billion-dollar company that operates one of the largest online gaming sites for children, for flagrantly ignoring state and federal online safety laws while deceiving parents about the dangers of its platform.
“Roblox markets itself as a safe digital space of creativity, but in reality it has become a breeding ground for predators. Children in Texas have been repeatedly exposed to sexually explicit content, exploitation, and grooming because Roblox chose to put pixel pedophiles and corporate profit over the safety of Texas children.
“‘We cannot allow platforms like Roblox to continue operating as digital playgrounds for predators where the well-being of our kids is sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed,’ said Attorney General Paxton. ‘Roblox must do more to protect kids from sick and twisted freaks hiding behind a screen. Any corporation that enables child abuse will face the full and unrelenting force of the law.’
“This lawsuit follows similar legal actions that Attorney General Paxton has taken against several Big Tech and social media companies, as well as a similar suit against TikTok.”
Roblox Issues Statement
Roblox released a statement to FOX 7 Austin in response to the lawsuit:
“We share Attorney General Paxton’s commitment to keeping kids and teens safe online, which is why we have implemented industry-leading protocols in an effort to protect users and remove bad actors. We are disappointed that, rather than working collaboratively with Roblox on this industry-wide challenge and seeking real solutions, the AG has chosen to file a lawsuit based on misrepresentations and sensationalized claims.
“Roblox is deeply committed to child safety. Our policies are purposefully stricter than those found on many other platforms. 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. We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and continue to invest in advanced safety systems to set the gold standard in online safety for the industry.
“We have introduced over 145 safety measures on the platform this year alone, and as a first for the industry, we recently announced that we are working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features soon, which will help prevent adults from chatting with minors.”
Roblox is among the most popular online platforms for young users worldwide. In a regulatory filing dated October 30, Roblox said it welcomed nearly 152 million daily active users in Q3.
In 2024, Roblox said two in five site users (40%) were under the age of 13.
This is a developing story. Follow us on MSN for more.
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