Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers on Wednesday filed a child-safety lawsuit against the popular online gaming platform Roblox, alleging that the company knowingly markets itself to kids but puts no guardrails in place to protect them from adults.
“There may be no bigger online playground for predators in the entire world,” Hilgers said in a news conference.
Hilgers said that while Roblox purports itself as a safe, child friendly space, users as young as 6 years old have unregulated access to sexually explicit and violent content. The AG said children also can directly chat with anonymous users while gaming with little to no parental controls. Hilgers added that the company is choosing profit over safety by allowing exploitation on its platform without even requiring age or identity verification on the site.
“Parents deserve the truth,” Hilgers said. “Our office will not tolerate companies that endanger kids and mislead the public.”
Hilger’s complaint juxtaposed Roblox’s public statements telling parents that the platform is safe and well moderated with stories of children’s online avatars being sexually assaulted by other players. He argued that any existing safety measures are easily avoided and don’t fully address the issue.
Roblox has said the company applies “rigorous built-in” safety protections and tools and maintains partnerships with child-safety experts to protect users. The company also said parents can control how their kids communicate on its system and the content that’s displayed to them.
Nebraska will seek injunctive relief and call for Roblox to require age and identity verification, although Hilgers said he did not want to limit himself on the details of any future settlement. Hilgers is joined by attorney generals in Texas, Tennessee and Florida in suing Roblox over child safety issues.
————————————————
