When Online Safety Hits Home
August 16, 2025
If you are a parent or caregiver of a child who plays games online, you have probably heard the word Roblox at least a few times. And, if you pay attention to what is happening in online spaces you may have heard that word a few more times in recent weeks, with some concerning language attached to it. We don’t usually weigh in on online hotspots, but this issue hits close to home. It connects directly to work we’ve done in our community in recent months and highlights risks and concerns you should know about.
As a starting point, Roblox is an online platform and game creation system that allows users to create, share, and play millions of games. It’s a virtual universe where users, for the most part children and teens, can interact on platform with over 100 million monthly users. With the exception of in-game payments for various items, the game itself is free for users to play on any gaming system or smartphone, which increases access significantly and helps generate its younger user base. However, this free to play, open access, generative environment is what essentially opens it to being a virtual “wild west.”
Roblox has been facing significant backlash and legal challenges in recent months, primarily centered on child safety issues and the company’s moderation policies. A key theme in these controversies is the allegation that Roblox has prioritized user growth and profits over the safety of its young users. The most serious and pressing concern is the alleged failure of Roblox to protect children from predators. Multiple lawsuits have been filed, including one by the Attorney General of Louisiana and another by a Texas man, alleging the platform’s design and weak moderation have created an environment where child predators can “thrive, unite, hunt, and victimize kids.”
Some of these lawsuits are based on specific cases of exploitation as well as citing a general environment of allowing exploitation to take place. These include:
- A lawsuit in Iowa claims a 13-year-old girl was introduced to a predator on the platform who later kidnapped and sexually assaulted her.
- A Texas man is suing the company, alleging he was groomed and sexually abused as a child by a contracted Roblox developer he met on the platform. The lawsuit claims Roblox was unresponsive to his mother’s pleas for help.
- The lawsuit filed by Louisiana’s Attorney General alleges that despite having a “zero-tolerance policy for the exploitation of minors,” Roblox’s lack of effective age verification and safety protocols puts children at risk.
These lawsuits have a common thread: the company has failed to put effective age checks in place to keep children safe. The court actions also show that Roblox’s content and user moderation is weak at best, allowing sexual and violent material to spread across the platform.
One video highlights the creation of a brand new Roblox account – where in less than 15 seconds the user was engaged with inappropriate content.”
Within the gaming and online community itself there has been a significant social media campaign against Roblox as the company has recently retaliated against users who have highlighted the issue or worked with law enforcement and other organizations to stop online predators on the platform.
One particular user and YouTuber known as “Schelp” with more than 800k subscribers has been one of the most vocal of the issue, posting a video in which he pretends to be a younger child to highlight the issue of predators on the platform. As a result of this action his account was banned, which has contributed to actions taken against the company.
Another user, known as “KreekCraft”, with more than 13 million subscribers on YouTube, generated two videos recently. One video highlights the creation of a brand new Roblox account – where in less than 15 seconds the user was engaged with inappropriate content. Another longform video highlights the recent issues involving the wider Roblox community.
So, what should you know about this, and where does this hit home? As we discussed in our April Newsletter, we had the pleasure of meeting with students from 3rd to 8th grade in Mashpee and Monomoy school districts to talk about online safety, digital mindfulness and gaming. . During the sessions with Richard Guerry from IROC2 , more than half of the 1,400 students we engaged with acknowledged that they played games online. Most of them identified Roblox as the game they played the most, and more than half revealed they communicated with people online.
The risks to children in our community being targeted by predators online is very real. We urge parents to get, and stay, involved in their children’s online lives to observe and understand the overall content on these platforms. The “built-in” safeguards for these games, and others, aren’t enough. Teach your children that communication in games should only be in the game, about the game. Often predators build trust with children on Roblox and then try to move the conversation to less-moderated platforms like Discord or Snapchat. Reinforce that they should never accept invitations to talk off the game platform.
Please, Take the Pledge and adopt an active role to prevent the sexual exploitation of children. Be smart and be safe online. It’s up to you to prevent online sexual exploitation of children.
