[STEAM] Two more child predator lawsuits filed against Roblox, with one also naming Snap

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filed two new lawsuits against Roblox, with one of them also naming Snap Inc., Snapchat’s parent company, on behalf of alleged victims of child predators.

The lawsuits are the latest of more than 150 filed against Roblox and some other gaming-related social platforms such as Discord and Snap. These new alleged victims are from Tillamook County, Oregon, and Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

Anapol Weiss, the law firm, said the details are disturbing. The Oregon plaintiff was eight when a predator groomed her through a Roblox dress-up game, manipulating her into a false “romantic relationship” and urging her to run away with him. He was never caught. The Louisiana plaintiff was 14 when a predator groomed her on Roblox, then moved her to Snapchat, where he sent ********* explicit images and demanded photos of her.

Both complaints accuse Roblox of knowingly enabling predators while marketing itself as kid-friendly, allegations echoed by attorneys general in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and other states that have sued or opened investigations into the platform.

We’re seeking comment from Roblox. Lawsuits such as the ones above have hit Roblox despite its efforts to crack down on child predators with technology, such as AI and face recognition tech that can verify ages for players.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Roblox said, “Criminal behavior has no place on Roblox. We have robust protections in place that go beyond many other online platforms, including age checks for chat features designed to limit communication between adults and kids they don’t know, and newly launched age-appropriate Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts for players under the age of 16.”

Roblox has pointed out before that its system does not allow the sharing of images or videos in chat and it should be noted that there’s a distinction between what kids can do on Roblox and the activity that happens on third-party platforms.

Roblox’s chat filters are engineered to help block the sharing of personal information by default, including social media handles or links for users under 16.

The company does not encrypt chat so that it can monitor for inappropriate interactions and continuously monitor communications for signals associated with grooming and attempts to move users off-platform.

When violative content is detected, Roblox takes action against the offending account and, as appropriate, report/preserve evidence for authorities. And the company has said it will continue to evolve our safeguards and invest in the teams, tools and technology that helps keep Roblox users safe.

In January Roblox became the first major online gaming platform to require all users to go through age checks in order to chat. More info can be found here.

Independent testing by the Age Check Certification Scheme has found that the system we use on average achieved an accuracy within 1.4 years for users younger than 18.

Parents can review their child’s age check status and update their child’s birthday in Parental Controls. Roblox also continuously monitors for behavioral signals. If it detects that these do not match the checked age, players are asked to recheck.

Roblox also recently launched Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts for under-16s add another layer of protection by aligning content access, chat settings and parental controls with a player’s age. More information can be found here.

Parents can visit

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to learn more about how to help keep their children safe online, and access resources including conversation starters on how to address safety topics and navigate online interactions as a family.

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