The County of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against Roblox this week, alleging that the social media gaming platform fails to protect children from predatory behavior.
Founded in 2004, with headquarters in San Mateo, California, creators call Roblox “an imagination platform,” where millions of user-created games are available for play. It’s not just one game; there are more than 11 million different games available for players on Apple, Amazon, Android, Windows, and Xbox One devices.
The platform is used worldwide, and County Assistant Counsel Scott Kuhn said over half a million children in LA County are on it almost every day, and more needs to be done to protect children.
“The app platform they have created has been used by predators to take advantage, exploit and send inappropriate material to young children,” Kuhn said.
” … The app needs to have better safeguards and moderation so that people are limited in the number of accounts they can sign up for.”
Roblox has parental controls available. “By linking to your child’s account and setting up parental controls, you customize their Roblox experience to reflect what makes sense for your family,” the Roblox website states.
In December, the company announced it is strengthening protections for minors, soon requiring players to use AI-powered facial age-estimation technology to help verify their age.
“Roblox is built with safety at its core, and we continue to evolve and strengthen our protections every day. We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications,” Matt Kaufman, Roblox Chief Safety Officer, said in a statement.
The lawsuit alleges that children in Los Angeles County have been repeatedly exposed to sexually explicit content, exploitation and grooming on Roblox.
“Roblox has failed to disclose the dangers of its platform to children, including the high volume of inappropriate material, sexual content, and the risk of sexual predators, including registered sex offenders, using its platform,” the county wrote in a news release.
Other states suing Roblox include Texas, Kentucky and Louisiana. Dozens of U.S. families have also filed suit against the company.