Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit against the gaming platform Roblox, alleging that it failed to protect minors from child predators.
“Defendants allow users to create accounts without providing any type of identity verification, and they do not require a child user to provide any type of attestation of parental knowledge or consent when establishing an account, no matter how young the user is per the birthdate provided to Defendants in the account creation process,” the filing argues, which “enables predators to create deceptive accounts—since no age or identity verification is required—and to do so as many times as they wish.”
Such a problem has created a “profoundly dangerous environment for children, leading to sexual exploitation and violence,” the lawsuit adds.
For example, “assassination simulators” began appearing on the platform following the death of Charlie Kirk. Children as young as five had access to “animated bloody depictions of the September 10 shooting.”
“Our children are not safe on Roblox. Predators and criminals aren’t just lurking in the platform’s shadows; they’ve been allowed to commit their crimes out in the open,” said Coleman. “For years, Roblox has ignored this crisis so it could continue turning a profit. Our responsibility is to protect Kentucky children from online exploitation by these predators and the companies like Roblox that knowingly facilitate it.”
Roblox is expected to roll out an age estimation system that requires users to scan selfies, allowing facial analysis to determine approximate age, by the end of 2025.
