Highlights
- Roblox, a popular online gaming platform with millions of young users, is facing a class-action lawsuit from parents who claim the company allows sexual content to reach children, contradicting its safe space image.
- The lawsuit alleges that Roblox falsely advertises itself as a safe space for kids, accusing the company of having inadequate filtering technology and failing to prevent children from accessing harmful content.
- Roblox defends itself by emphasizing its commitment to safety and age-appropriate content, citing partnerships with child safety organizations.
Roblox is currently facing a class-action lawsuit from parents of underage players, who accuse the company of allowing sexual content to reach young children, despite advertising itself as a safe space. Roblox is known for its user-made games and is a popular platform for children, but the lawsuit points to a darker side of the service.
With over 66 million daily users, Roblox is a huge hit among young players. According to an SEC filing from 2022, around 55% of all Roblox players are 12 years old or younger.
Now, a class-action lawsuit in California brought by parents of players is accusing Roblox of violating the state’s laws by falsely advertising itself as a safe space for children. The lawsuit was filed in August, and amended in October, and most of the complaints are that the company obfuscates the lack of efficacy of its filtering technologies and its inability to prevent children from accessing harmful content. According to PC Gamer, the lawsuit gives several examples of situations in which children were put at harm when playing Roblox. These examples include kids seeing people in “nude” avatars, as well as them being allowed in the same space as people engaging in virtual sex. Other complaints focus on users soliciting underage kids for sex on the platform, or calling them racial slurs.
Roblox, on the other hand, defends itself by stating that the company is committed to “providing a positive and safe experience for people of all ages” and that it has thousands of employees working to make the platform age-appropriate, as well as partnerships with over 20 organizations that focus on children safety. Last year, Roblox patented a system for age-appropriate content recommendations, as part of an effort to stop players from accessing content not recommended for their age.
This is not the first time that the popular gaming platform has been in trouble. A few months ago, Roblox changed how ads worked on the platform, mostly to address complaints made to the FTC that the platform was aiming its ads at children. After the change, the company decided to hide all ads for users under 13 years old, as well as ban ads for services like cryptocurrencies, NFTs, dating apps, funeral services, fortune-tellers, and, curiously, insect body parts.
Roblox – Game
Roblox is a massive online game creation tool that allows players to craft their own games and worlds for other Roblox players to jump into and enjoy.
- Platform(s)
- PC, iOS, Android, Xbox One, PS4
- Released
- September 1, 2006
- Developer(s)
- Roblox Corporation
- Publisher(s)
- Roblox Corporation
- Genre(s)
- Game Creation System