Florida’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the popular online game Roblox, accusing the company of failing to protect children in the state. In a post shared on X on Thursday, Attorney General James Uthmeier alleged that Roblox is hiding behind press releases and safety policies while predators continue to groom and target children on the platform.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Florida’s attorney general has launched a lawsuit against Roblox, claiming the gaming company did not do enough to safeguard children.
In his Thursday post on X, Attorney General James Uthmeier accused Roblox of relying on public statements and safety measures while predators allegedly exploit the platform to target young users.
“Roblox aggressively markets to young children, but fails to protect them from sexual predators,” Uthmeier said.
The lawsuit follows Uthmeier’s announcement in October that the state had opened a criminal investigation into the children’s gaming platform. He previously said concerns were raised about Roblox’s ability to verify users’ ages and what he described as weak content moderation, which has reportedly allowed inappropriate material to go undetected.
After the investigation was announced, Roblox responded by disputing the allegations.
“Attorney General Uthmeir’s claims about Roblox are false, and the suggestion that illicit image sharing is happening on Roblox demonstrates a lack of understanding of our platform’s functionality. In fact, we prohibit the sharing of images and videos in chat, use filters designed to block the exchange of personal information, and our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content. We are also working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features. We share the AG’s commitment to keeping kids safe and we will continue to assist his office in their investigations. We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and investing in advanced safety systems to help protect our users and remove bad actors,” the company said.
In November, Roblox announced a new safety feature designed to ensure children interact only with other children on the platform through facial age checks. The company said the measure is intended to protect young users and deter predators.
The new safety feature is scheduled to roll out across the U.S. beginning in January.
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