PORTLAND, Ore. (InvestigateTV) – Law enforcement officials across the country say the popular online gaming platform Roblox is dangerous for children, despite being targeted at young users.
Attorneys general in Louisiana and Kentucky recently filed separate lawsuits against Roblox, alleging the platform isn’t doing enough to keep kids safe and is prioritizing profits over addressing dangers from alleged child predators.
The U.S. Department of Justice has also alleged some child predators use the platform in disturbing ways. One Oregon suspect, according to the DOJ, is charged with enticing minors and receiving child pornography and allegedly used Roblox to initially connect with some victims.
Oregon sees more Roblox-related cases
Mark Williamson, who leads Oregon’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force at the Oregon Dept. of Justice, said his team has noticed a rise in potential cases involving child predator suspects using Roblox.
“We’re seeing a lot of them here in Oregon. I just looked it up. We’ve had 255 cyber tips this year involving Roblox,” Williamson said.
Williamson says cases usually start with Roblox reporting suspected illicit activity to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), then get referred to Oregon if a victim or suspect is in the state. According to the company’s website, Roblox submitted over 24,500 reports nationwide to the NCMEC in 2024.
“We look into them, and then if it’s a case that we believe some action needs to be done by us or someone in the state, we either investigate those ourselves or we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 affiliate agencies across the state of Oregon that also investigate these,” Williamson said.
Local student shares concerning experiences
Rylund Strange, a seventh-grader who plays Roblox, said he has been asked by people on the platform to communicate off-platform on encrypted messaging apps like Discord.
“Yeah. So they’re being weird, like trying to get in contact with me like that. It’s honestly really uncomfortable for me. And since I now know what they’re trying to do, it makes me mad because I know they’re trying to groom people, and I just do not like that. It just makes me upset,” Strange said.
Strange said Roblox is supposed to have safety measures on its chat features like filters meant to detect illicit content or conversation. But he said he and his friends have noticed some users have found ways around the filters, such as using abbreviations or emojis to try and get other users to share personal information like phone numbers or to convince them to chat on a separate platform. His mother, Michelle Strange, said learning all this has made her very concerned.
“It was scary. You know, initially, that that really frightened me. I just I talked to Rylund again about safety protocols. I reiterated to him: don’t share any personal information which he knows not to do already,” she said.
When asked how Roblox could become safer, Rylund Strange suggested removing private messaging features.
“Well, if they actually didn’t prioritize money and growth, I think of all the best steps is like, remove the private chat feature or the direct messages, and then I think it will be better overall,” he said.
Company response
In an August press release about safety, Roblox emphasized it uses AI to automatically detect language in chats that could be deemed illicit or criminal, along with thousands of trained professionals to monitor its platform.
The company said it takes instances of illicit activity seriously and reports to law enforcement.
The company also says it has introduced over 40 features in the last year to protect its younger users, and give parents greater control and safeguards over accounts used by children.
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