High Point mom sues Roblox for enabling child predators | #childpredator | #onlinepredator | #sextrafficing

A High Point mother and her 10-year-old are suing Roblox, a popular gaming platform for kids. They are the first to file a lawsuit in North Carolina, joining other parents in other states who are suing the company. The 84-page civil lawsuit filed in Guilford County alleges the Roblox gaming platform led to sexual exploitation from a predator posing as a friend and did not adequately protect children from harm. “This company has kind of been too little, too late as far as age restrictions and types of protections that they could have had in place to prevent this,” said Ben Whitley, a Raleigh-based lawyer on the case with Dolman Law Group.Whitley said this civil suit is the only way they can hold the company accountable for what the family alleges happened to their 10-year-old while using Roblox. The mom and child are seeking damages of $25,000, plus damages for “physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and expenses for medical treatments” and legal fees.”Their only recourse to seek for what the damage was done through the civil system is, is through the company that let this predator be there,” he said.Roblox has more than 100 million users online per day internationally according to their website. The game platform also features parental controls and rules, including limits on messaging for users under the age of 13.The lawsuit states the child had been playing Roblox for four years, when an alleged friend within the game moved their conversation off the game, and began asking for elicit images in exchange for Robux, the game currency. “A child really doesn’t have a way to know, is this a predator or is it not?” said Whitney Miller, an advocate for protecting children from online exploitation, who works for the Invictus Project and task force. She said parents can help children identify dangerous situations, and the best protection from predators is parents themselves.”We say to look out for the things like Roblox cash, it’s called Robux,” she said. “When someone begins to offer that or ask for something in exchange for that, red flag. If that individual is asking you to move to another platform — Discord, Snapchat — red flag.”She calls the lawsuit a wake-up call, saying there are not enough parameters in place currently to prevent predators from having access to children online. “I am thankful that we have parents that are recognizing these situations and are holding big tech accountable, because have the ability to make those adjustments,” Miller said. “And hopefully our voices as parents can be loud enough that they start to listen.” Roblox sent this statement regarding the lawsuit: “We are deeply troubled by any incident that endangers our users, and safety is a top priority. We dedicate substantial resources, including advanced technology and 24/7 human moderation, to help detect and prevent inappropriate content and behavior, including attempts to direct users off platform, where safety standards and moderation may be less stringent than ours. While no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous safeguards, including restrictions on sharing personal information, links, and user-to-user image sharing, and prohibiting sexual conversations. We also partner with law enforcement and leading child safety organizations worldwide to combat the sexual exploitation of children.” Resources about online predators from the Invictus Project:- Take it Down: help to remove elicit content posted online before the age of 18Good Pictures, Bad Pictures book: two versions for children under 6 and over 6 that parents can use to educate minors about online dangersGryphon Internet Router: allows parents to block certain websites, contentBark Parental Controls app: gives parents access to notifications, social media and internet searchesMissingKids.org: sextortion and other ways to educate and talk with children abut tough topics