In a sprawling lawsuit filed today against Roblox by Los Angeles County, the hugely popular online gaming platform has been accused of creating a breeding ground for predators to exploit and extort minors with “pornographic content,” grooming, violence, “child sexual abuse material” and “simulated sexual activity.”
“Roblox portrays its platform as a safe and appropriate place for children to play,” says the complaint from the LA County Counsel’s office for public nuisance and violations of California’s False Advertising Law. “In reality, and as Roblox well knows, the design of its platform makes children easy prey for pedophiles.”
Roblox is estimated to have a massive userbase of 151 million active daily and nearly 400 million active monthly users with around 40% of them under the age of 13.
A much sought after market by corporate America, the chat-heavy Roblox has had lucrative partnerships and relationships with the likes of Warner Bros., Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, Lionsgate, Sega, Universal, as well as the manga and anime outlet Kodansha over the years. Former Warner Media CEO Jason Kilar and ex-Lifetime Entertainment CEO and Sony and ABC exec Amanda Wong serve on Roblox’s six-person board of directors.
Clearly dismissive of the safeguards the 2004-founded Roblox has long claimed they have in place to protect kids, today’s action from L.A. County Counsel Dawyn R. Harrison is similar in intent and scope to suits and probes from states such as Georgia, Texas, Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana against the Nevada-based company.
“Far from creating a safe place for children, Roblox designed, built, and maintains a toxic environment through its platform design choices, default communication settings, and failure to implement meaningful verification and enforcement mechanisms that has enabled obscene material to flourish and, worse, created foreseeable pathways that enable predatory pedophiles to hunt, groom, and sexually exploit children,” the filing in L.A. Superior Court Thursday on behalf of the people of the Golden State asserts.
“What Roblox represents and advertises as a safe, appropriate space for children is, in fact, a digital and real-life nightmare for kids.”
Roblox
Roblox
In a very specific example of such an alleged nightmare, Thursday’s suit divulges what may be many parents’ worst fears when their kids are parked in front of screens on such platforms are Roblox. “There have been numerous reports of children’s avatars being raped by other users’ avatars,” the filing says. “For example, in 2018, a seven-year-old girl’s avatar was violently raped by two male avatars on a playground in a Roblox experience.”
Seeking marketing injunctions and what could end up being millions and millions every day in penalties of $2,500 for every violation, the 82-page filing also lambastes the corporate masters behind Roblox’s myriad of games, virtual worlds and more immersive experiences for having conducted a “campaign of lies” and allegedly phony guardrails to hide what is really happening on the vastly popular platform.
Today’s document claims “Roblox has, in the course of trade and commerce, engaged in false, misleading, and deceptive acts and practices in its representations and advertisements regarding Roblox’s design, safeguards, and safety monitoring.
“This lawsuit highlights the alarming reality of what happens when Big Tech puts profits over our children’s safety,” said Rafael Carbajal, Director of the County’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs Thursday. Those words from Carbajal are all the more timely with the potentially game changing social media liability trial taking place in DTLA right now — a trial that saw Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg on the stand and on the defensive on February 18.
Coincidentally, having today launched their Global Parent Council (described as a “diverse and talented group of parents and caregivers from 32 countries will serve as vital advisers to help inform our products, policies, and partnerships”), Roblox says they “strongly dispute the claims in this lawsuit and will defend against it vigorously.
“Roblox is built with safety at its core, and we continue to evolve and strengthen our protections every day,” a spokesperson for the Greg Baszucki founded and led company told Deadline. “We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications, and users cannot send or receive images via chat, avoiding one of the most prevalent opportunities for misuse seen elsewhere online. Safety is a constant and consistent focus of our work. We take swift action against anyone found to violate our safety rules and work closely with law enforcement to support investigations and help hold bad actors accountable.”
“There is no finish line when it comes to protecting kids, and while no system can be perfect, our commitment to safety never ends,” the Roblox rep contends.
With either an answer, delay tactics or even trying to move the matter to federal court, Roblox has 30 days to respond to L.A. County’s suit once they are served.