Parents want the best for their children. They also strive to keep those children safe. When riding a bike, a parent will ensure their kid is wearing a helmet. They’ll also teach them about the potential dangers around the house, like touching a hot stove or playing with an electrical outlet.
Unfortunately, parents can’t watch their children around the clock.
When kids use the internet to play games, it can be a gateway to potential danger. That is what many families have discovered with the popular gaming platform Roblox. This is a site where players can travel to hundreds of different realms to take on various challenges. It is also designed to provide interaction between players.
This is where the danger comes in, as predators have used the platform to groom minors and coerce them into illicit acts or sexual assault.
What is the Targeted Lawsuit Against Roblox and Discord?
As reported recently on CBS News, Steven, a father of two, has filed a lawsuit against Roblox and Discord. Even though Steven set up all the available parental controls, an alleged sex offender still managed to set up a fake profile posing as a 16-year-old who befriended Steven’s then-13-year-old son.
The alleged predator offers Roblox gift cards in exchange for sexually explicit photos. Roblox does not allow that type of document exchange, so the minor sent the photos over Discord, another chat and gaming forum that is popular with teens.
“At a certain point, it was, ‘tell me what your address is,’ and when he said no, he’s like, ‘Well, I have these photos of you, I’ll tell your parents,'” Steven told CBS News of the interaction between the predator and his son back in July 2024. “He was 30 feet down the hall from us and just— felt too trapped to … come and talk to us.”
When Steven discovered an errant message from the alleged predator, he was able to speak with his son and gather the story. That led to swift action by the local authorities, ending in the person pleading guilty to first-degree felony child endangerment.
Because of the incident, Steven moved his family across the country for a fresh start, but his son is still suffering from depression and PTSD from the incident. Steven is among 30-plus families and the Attorneys General from Kentucky and Louisiana who are suing Roblox and other tech platforms, alleging they allowed sexual predators access to their kids.
“For years, Roblox has ignored this crisis so it could continue turning a profit,” Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman told CBS in a statement. “Our responsibility is to protect Kentucky children from online exploitation by these predators and the companies like Roblox that knowingly facilitate it.”
What was Roblox’s Response to the Targeted Lawsuit?
Matt Kaufman, the Chief Safety Officer at Roblox, told CBS News that the platform does not allow image sharing in filtered chats and has rolled out over 100 new safety features this year, including age estimation and enhanced chat monitoring.
“We have safety systems that are in place by default, and a lot of these situations that you’re talking about, like extortion, people sharing, graphic images, they simply cannot happen on Roblox,” Kaufman said.
Unfortunately for Steven’s son and many others like him, those safety protocols were not implemented to protect their children. There are other ways that parents can protect their children from potential sexual offenders online. The most important thing that parents can do is get involved with what their kids are doing online.
They also need to explain to their teens what to look out for and what is considered inappropriate behavior.
Options for Legal Action
It might seem that a mega-corporation with all those “terms of service” can’t be held accountable for the actions of its users. In fact, they can. The Thomas Law Offices have helped many clients take on businesses of all sizes that have created unsafe conditions where sexual assault occurred.
Our experienced Chicago sexual assault attorneys understand the sensitive nature of these types of crimes. We know the emotional toll it can take on the victims and their families. That’s why we’re dedicated to providing accountability.
If your family has experienced this kind of assault, we want to hear from you. You can schedule a free and confidential consultation to discuss what happened. We’ll be able to provide support and guidance about what should happen next.
You don’t have to go through this alone.
Who We Are
