Roblox has just been hit with another lawsuit over its child safety issues.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on social media on Thursday that the state was suing Roblox for “putting pixel pedophiles and profits over the safety of Texas children.”
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This is the third U.S. state AG to file a lawsuit against Roblox in just the past few months. In August, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed a lawsuit against the online gaming platform over a “lack of safety protocols” that “endangers the safety of the children of Louisiana.” In October, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit against Roblox over those same child safety issues, saying that “Roblox has ignored this crisis so it could continue turning a profit.”
Now, Texas has filed its own lawsuit against Roblox, claiming the company has been “flagrantly ignoring federal and state online safety laws while deceiving parents about the dangers of its platform.”
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“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 in a statement. “Roblox must do more to protect kids from sick and twisted freaks hiding behind a screen.”
Roblox also faces a slew of lawsuits recently filed by the firm Dolman Law Group on behalf of parents and their underage children.
Roblox is an online gaming platform where users can explore a digital universe, interact with other users, and play user-created games. Roblox has become extremely popular in recent years, with half of U.S. kids under the age of 16 reportedly playing games on the platform. As a result, predators have flocked to the online game in order to take advantage of its young user base. While Roblox does have child safety settings and parental controls, clearly these haven’t been enough to stop child exploitation from occurring on the platform, or as a result of initial contact being made on the platform.
With multiple state Attorney Generals now suing the company, Roblox seems likely to find itself in a position similar to Big Tech and social media companies: Either regulate itself and deal with the safety issues head-on, or the government will come do it for them.
