Louisiana’s top prosecutor sued the popular online gaming platform Roblox on Thursday, alleging that its failure to implement strong safety protocols for children has made it “the perfect place for pedophiles.”
The suit, filed by Attorney General Liz Murrill in Louisiana’s 21st Judicial District, accuses the California-based company of intentionally or recklessly designing a platform with no age verification process, allowing Roblox’s tens of millions of users to easily create accounts with fake birthdays.
Adults can pose as children, according to the suit, and kids can bypass controls meant for users under 13.
Launched in 2006, Roblox has a sprawling catalogue of games and “experiences,” many of which are designed by users and include real-time messaging. According to the company’s 2024-25 annual report, 20% of the platform’s 82 million active users were under age 9, the lawsuit says.
“Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety,” Murrill said in a statement. “Every parent should be aware of the clear and present danger [posed] to their children by Roblox so they can prevent the unthinkable from ever happening in their own home.”
The 42-page suit points to a raft of sexually explicit “experiences” that have been on the platform, including “Escape to Epstein Island,” “Diddy Party” and “Public Bathroom Simulator Vibe,” and it alleges that a man arrested on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse material in Louisiana last month was using the platform at the time he was taken into custody.
The man had used voice-altering technology to mimic the sound of a young female to lure and sexually exploit minors on the platform, according to the suit.
The suit, which alleges unfair trade practices, negligence and unjust enrichment, does not specify damages but seeks a permanent order barring Roblox from violating the state’s unfair trade practices act or promoting its safety features as adequate, which the suit says it routinely does.
A spokesperson for Roblox declined to comment on the allegations, citing pending litigation, but said it dedicates “substantial resources” to help “detect and prevent inappropriate content and behavior, including attempts to direct users off platform, where safety standards and moderation may be less stringent than ours.”
“While no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous technology and enforcement safeguards, including restrictions on sharing personal information, links, and user-to-user image sharing,” the spokesperson said. “The safety of our community is a top priority.”
In November, the platform announced a series of safety measures that barred users under age 13 from sending direct messages and included new content categories to help determine what is age-appropriate for users.
Those measures were rolled out the month after New York-based analyst Hindenburg Research called Roblox an “X-rated pedophile hellscape, exposing children to grooming, pornography, violent content and extremely abusive speech.”
Roblox denied the claim, saying in a statement that the analyst’s report was misleading and citing what it described as significant investment in trust and safety measures.
Thursday’s lawsuit described the company’s recent safety measures as “too little, too late, and woefully inadequate.”
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