Los Angeles County announced Thursday that it has filed a civil lawsuit against the American online gaming platform Roblox, accusing it of failing to adequately protect children from sexual predators and inappropriate content. Authorities allege that the company's moderation and age verification measures were insufficient, potentially exposing minors to sexually explicit exchanges or allowing pedophiles to contact them.
In a statement, Representative Hilda Solis asserted that this action aims to "protect children" and accused the platform of becoming a space where they can be "manipulated" or "exploited." The county emphasized the scale of the problem: nearly 75% of American children aged 9 to 12 regularly use Roblox, which boasts over 151 million daily active users worldwide.
Roblox denies the accusations
According to the complaint, Roblox prioritized profits over the safety of minors, which also constitutes unfair competition against other platforms. County Legal Counsel Dawyn Harrison suggests the consequences could extend to real-world exploitation and assault.
Roblox rejects these accusations and asserts that security is central to its operations. The company highlights the implementation, in January, of a facial recognition age verification system for accessing chat rooms. It also maintains that it has content monitoring tools and emphasizes that sending images via chat is impossible on the platform.
