Less than three months after the state of Louisiana announced it would be filing a lawsuit against Roblox, which claimed that the company "permitted and perpetuated an online environment in which child predators thrive, directly contributing to the widespread victimization of minor children in Louisiana," the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has filed his own lawsuit against Roblox with similar allegations and similarly intense language, as Paxton alleges the company put "pixel pedophiles and profits over the safety of Texas children."
In a press release regarding the lawsuit, Paxton says, "We cannot allow platforms like Roblox to continue operating as digital playgrounds for predators where the well-being of our kids is sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed. Roblox must do more to protect kids from sick and twisted freaks hiding behind a screen. Any corporation that enables child abuse will face the full and unrelenting force of the law."
It's intense language, to say the least, and while Roblox Corporation would disagree with it and, in a statement to PC Gamer, said Paxton's claims and lawsuit were "based on misrepresentations and sensationalized claims," there is no denying that Roblox has garnered a reputation for being a platform riddled with safety concerns for children.
We've seen multiple reports in recent years that have deeply investigated Roblox for its lack of child safety protocols. In 2024, Bloomberg reported that in 2023, there were 13,000 incidents of child exploitation on the platform, with Roblox employees quoted in the report saying the company was "on its back foot" in the fight against child predators on the platform.
People Make Games published two in-depth videos that explored issues of child predators on the platform and the issues of Roblox's dependence on user-created content and how little those creators actually see compared to the profits that Roblox Corporation rakes in.
It's worth noting that Roblox has made several changes since both the above videos were published, but there is a case to be made that those changes were implemented too late, and it's also worth asking if the changes are actually doing enough to make it a safe platform for children.
It should also be noted that Louisiana and Texas aren't the only states in the US going after Roblox. Kentucky has a similar lawsuit filed against the company, and Florida has launched a criminal investigation into Roblox.
Roblox, for its part, as stated earlier, calls the Texas attorney general's claims "sensationalized," and goes further to say that it is "deeply committed to child safety."
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