FRANKFORT, KY– FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s attorney general claimed Tuesday that Roblox online gaming platform It became a “playground for predators” as a lawsuit was announced accusing the company of lax child safety measures.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in state court by his Kentucky office, is the latest action alleging that the hugely popular site is not doing enough to protect children on its gaming services.
To strengthen safeguards for children and teens streaming the site, the company needs to install effective age verification processes and content filters, said Russell Coleman, Kentucky Attorney General. Parental notifications also need to be added, he said.
Courtney Norris, a mother of three from Kentucky who joined Coleman at a news conference, said she mistakenly viewed Roblox as a safe online gaming option for her children.
“I realized, later than I’d like to admit, that this is actually the ‘Wild West’ of the Internet, targeting children,” she said.
The company is facing increasing backlash. The Kentucky suit comes next A lawsuit was filed against Louisiana company in August. A lawsuit was filed in Iowa after a 13-year-old girl was introduced to an adult predator on the platform, then kidnapped, trafficked across multiple states and raped.
Roblox on Tuesday He was pushed back Against the accusations.
“We have stringent security measures in place ranging from advanced AI models to an expertly trained team of thousands of people who manage our platform 24/7 for inappropriate content,” the company said in a statement. “No system is perfect and our safety work is never complete. We are constantly innovating our safety systems, including adding 100 new protections, such as facial age estimation, this year alone.”
Roblox says it has 111 million daily active users. The company said in an email on Tuesday that it has strict virtual safety standards for its younger users. It said platform users under the age of 13 cannot send direct messages to others on Roblox, outside of games or trials, and cannot send direct messages to others during games or trials unless the default setting is changed using parental controls.
The company said it has strict text chat filters to block inappropriate words and phrases, attempts to direct users under the age of 13 off the platform, and sharing personal information such as phone number or address. She said that it does not allow sharing of images between one user to another and prohibits sexual conversations.
The lawsuit in Kentucky gives a very different picture of the platform.
Despite assurances that its site was safe, it failed to install basic safety controls, the lawsuit said. She said Roblox also failed to inform its users and their parents about the “inherent risks” of the platform.
Coleman, a Republican, said the site’s “cartoonish characters and experiences” appeal to children, but warned that “underneath this innocent caricature veneer is something sinister. The platform has become a playground for predators who seek to harm our children.”
The Kentucky lawsuit alleges that children are being exposed to “violent or sexual situations within the Roblox world, with parents reporting children being contacted by strangers using third-party chat apps that act as if they were part of the game.”
Norris said she, like many parents, considered it a safe option for her children.
“I described it as a ‘fenced backyard’ for the kids to play,” she said Tuesday. “And that’s the genius and the danger I’ve found in Roblox — the illusion of security it provides to parents like me.”
“The reality is that Roblox makes it nearly impossible to police as a parent,” she added.
The lawsuit claims that Roblox’s lax protections violate the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act and asks a judge to order the company to comply. The lawsuit seeks penalties of up to $2,000 for each violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
Coleman said his office is open to negotiating a settlement with Roblox.
“Our goal is not to close the platform,” Coleman said. “Our goal is for Roblox to be safe.”
Roblox said it shares the goal of keeping children safe online, and said it would welcome discussions with Coleman’s office “to ensure they have a clear understanding of everything Roblox does to keep users safe.”