DALE COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) – A Dale County mother says what started as an innocent gaming distraction for her 8-year-old daughter in 2020 quickly turned into a nightmare involving online predators and sexual exploitation.
The mother, who wants to remain anonymous, is one of at least three Alabama families who have sued Roblox in recent months, claiming the online gaming platform failed to protect children from predators who used the games to groom minors.
“I thought it was very innocent. I thought other kids were on there and that was a way for her to socialize,” the mother said. “And at the time, she was the only child. And I’ve been a single mom and, you know, raising her. So that was kind of like her outlet and to be able to socialize with other kids.”
Gaming addiction leads to dangerous encounters
The mother says her daughter, who we will refer to as “Amy” to protect her identity, became addicted to Roblox and learned to bypass security controls on school-issued devices to access the platform.
“She’s addicted and it’s causing behavior problems now to this day,” the mother said.
The mother, who was homeschooling Amy while caring for a new baby, discovered the extent of the danger when she overheard her daughter talking to someone on the phone.
“I came home and I heard her having a conversation. I’m like, who is she on the phone with?” the mother said. “And I bust through the door and snatched the phone from her and I’m like, whoever this is, I know you’re an adult, do you know you’re speaking with a 12-year-old child?”
The man’s response was chilling: “Sounds like you need to teach her a lesson.”
Predators moved conversations to other platforms
According to the lawsuit, Amy met the man in a Roblox game, and their conversations moved to the Discord messaging platform, where they turned sexual. The mother discovered inappropriate voice messages and conversations.
“They just communicating, ‘baby, what are you doing? I miss you. What are you wearing?’ Um, there would be voice clips of my child saying some really inappropriate things,” the mother said.
The lawsuit alleges that this man and several others groomed Amy on Roblox and convinced the 12-year-old to send inappropriate pictures in exchange for Robux, the game’s virtual currency.
“I’ve caught them since then, um, conversing back and forth. He makes her feel guilty when she’s not responding,” the mother said. “It’s very sad because I don’t have control over it.”
Attorney says company lacks oversight
Brett Turnbull, one of the attorneys representing Alabama families suing Roblox, said the biggest issue is lack of oversight.
“You know, it’s very, very disturbing. Biggest issue that I see is there’s just no oversight. None at all,” Turnbull said.
Turnbull said the lawsuits claim adults can easily sign up as children and interact with minors in children-only zones without proper verification.
“When people sign up, there’s really no verification of who they are. So you have adults signing up as children, who are then interacting with children,” Turnbull said.
Roblox introduced multiple significant security upgrades this year including a more robust screening process, but Turnbull says the company waited too long to implement them for his client.
“They knew how to do it. They knew it. It’s never perfect, but they didn’t do anything for a very long time,” Turnbull said.
Company responds to safety concerns
Roblox said in a statement that safety is a top priority and the company has implemented over 100 new safety features this year.
“We are deeply troubled by any incident that endangers our users,” the company said in a statement to WBRC. “While we cannot comment on claims raised in litigation, we always strive to hold ourselves to the highest safety standards.
This includes strong processes to detect and act on problematic behaviors, including advanced technology and 24/7 human moderation and attempts to direct users off platform, where safety standards and moderation may be less stringent than ours.
At Roblox, safety is a top priority and we are continually innovating new safety features – over 100 this year alone – that protect our users and empower parents and caregivers with greater control and visibility.
While no system is perfect, Roblox is designed with rigorous built-in safety features, and our policies are purposely stricter than those found on other platforms, including limiting chat for younger users, not allowing sharing images through chat and filters designed to block the sharing of personal information.
We also understand that this is an industry-wide issue, and we are actively dedicating resources to develop industry-wide standards and solutions focused on keeping children safe online. We partner with law enforcement and leading child safety and mental health organizations worldwide to combat the sexual exploitation of children.”
Turnbull said recent safety improvements have been more effective than expected, though he believes they came about 10 years too late.
Mother calls for stronger protections
Amy’s mother said she believes the game should be banned and that parents need to closely monitor their children’s online activities.
“It should be more age appropriate for kids because it’s kind of like, it looks like Legos. It looks like they’re little Lego people and they’re having fun. But really behind that screen, they should, I don’t know how they would make it to where it’s a safe place for kids,” she said.
She said the experience taught her not to trust children’s accounts of their online activities.
“What I did learn is not to trust your kids’ word and what they’re doing. You have to be in their business and go all through everything,” she said.
Attorneys general in several states including Louisiana and Florida are now suing Roblox. Attorneys for most of the families suing the company are set to meet this month to discuss consolidating all cases into one lawsuit.
Protecting your child
The cyber safety project recommends several steps to protect your children on Roblox, starting with checking the content maturity settings. Go to Settings > Privacy and Content Maturity and select the content maturity level you believe is appropriate, though remember some inappropriate content could still make it through.
You can also change their chat settings by going to Settings > Privacy and Content Maturity > Communication, and restrict your child’s ability to talk with other players by selecting “no one.”
Also make sure your child’s age is entered correctly in their profile, to allow some of the automatic safety settings to take hold.
Roblox offers a more in-depth tutorial on protecting/restricting the content your child can see in the game by clicking or tapping here.
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