Louisiana Sues Roblox, Accusing the Company of Putting Profits Ahead of Child Safety
Louisiana’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Roblox Corporation, saying the company should be held “accountable for the facilitation and distribution of child sexual abuse material […] and for the sexual exploitation of Louisiana’s minor children,” according to court documents filed this week by the state’s attorney general. The state alleges Roblox failed to put in place sufficient safety controls and that its platform has allowed predators to operate and harm children.
- What the lawsuit alleges, and the quotes from the Louisiana AG.
- How Roblox has responded and what safety steps it says it has taken.
- Background reporting and past criticism of Roblox’s moderation and safety record.
- Platform usage numbers cited by Roblox and recent moderation moves.
What the lawsuit says
According to the filing, Louisiana argues Roblox “has knowingly enabled and facilitated the systemic sexual exploitation and abuse of children across the United States.” The complaint adds that Roblox “permitted and perpetuated an online environment in which child predators thrive, directly contributing to the widespread victimization of minor children.”
State officials say these failures amount to more than isolated incidents. Instead, they describe a pattern that they say requires civil action to stop and to seek remedies for victims. Furthermore, Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill said, “Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety.”
Roblox’s response
Roblox Corporation issued a public response to the lawsuit to “address erroneous claims and misconceptions about our platform, our commitment to safety, and our overall safety track record.” The company highlighted recent safety features, including updated parental controls, stricter defaults for users under 13, and new content maturity labels.
Additionally, Roblox pointed to work on age-estimation technology and its collaborations with law enforcement and child-safety groups. For more on those partnerships, the company described its efforts in a separate post about how it works with authorities and organizations: Roblox partners with law enforcement.
Earlier reporting and criticism
Roblox has faced high-profile criticism in recent years. Notably, Bloomberg published an extensive piece titled “Roblox’s Pedophile Problem”, which reported that police in the U.S. “have arrested at least two dozen people accused of abducting or abusing victims they’d met or groomed using Roblox.”
Meanwhile, forensic financial firm Hindenburg Research released a report that described Roblox as an “X-rated pedophile hellscape, exposing children to grooming, pornography, violent content and extremely abusive speech.” Roblox publicly rejected Hindenburg’s conclusions as misleading.
Platform numbers and recent moderation moves
Roblox has published its own usage figures in recent posts, saying it averages about 111 million daily active users, with users sending more than 6 billion chat messages and generating about 1.1 million hours of voice on the platform. Those figures appeared in a post that also discussed the company’s decision to ban certain in-game “vigilantes” who tried to identify predators, including the notable user known as Schlep: More on removal of vigilantes from Roblox.
What happens next
The lawsuit is now in the court system. Consequently, the case will move through legal procedures where both sides can present evidence and arguments. For now, the filing and the company’s public statements are the main, concrete records of the dispute.
