Louisiana sues Roblox over child-safety claims, seeks penalties

Louisiana’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Roblox Corp on claims that the platform fails to protect children from predators and facilitates the distribution of child mistreatment material, arguing that Roblox prioritizes growth and profits over basic safety. The suit seeks to bar Roblox from representing that it has adequate safety features, along with civil penalties and other relief under state law. The action arrives amid a wave of scrutiny over how the popular online game and social platform guards its largely underage audience, and it coincides with a high-profile ban of a well-known vigilante predator hunter on the platform and plans for a documentary examining Roblox’s safety practices.

The Louisiana filing asserts that Roblox enables “adults to pose as children” and allows children to bypass age requirements, exposing young users to explicit content and predatory behavior. It points to experiences marketed on Roblox that it says are highly inappropriate, including titles that depict sexualized scenarios and illegal activity, and it alleges the company does not implement basic safety controls or verify parental permission in a reliable way for younger accounts....