Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a sweeping lawsuit against the Roblox Corporation, accusing the multi-billion-dollar gaming company of “flagrantly ignoring state and federal online safety laws” and deceiving parents about the dangers of its platform.
Filed in King County District Court, the 200-page petition alleges that Roblox markets itself as a safe and family-friendly gaming site while knowingly facilitating sexual exploitation, grooming, and exposure to explicit content among minors.
The company, according to the filing, created a “sprawling and unregulated digital playground that is overrun by predators and saturated with sexual content.”
Roblox—which boasts more than 80 million daily users, many of them under 13—has long advertised itself as the “#1 gaming site for kids and teens.” But the lawsuit claims that, in reality, the platform allows predators to communicate freely with children under the guise of anonymity. It accused the site of promoting adult-themed “experiences” such as virtual strip clubs and “Epstein’s Island,” and even hosts hundreds of games referencing disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, whose alleged sex-trafficking “freak-off” parties were recently cited in federal court.
The lawsuit contends that Roblox “utterly failed to implement adequate protections against sexual predators, unsafe chat environments, [and] inappropriate virtual experiences,” while simultaneously assuring parents that it takes “every precaution possible” to protect children—a practice Paxton argues violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
“Children in Texas have been repeatedly exposed to sexually explicit content, exploitation, and grooming because Roblox chose to put pixel pedophiles and corporate profit over the safety of Texas children,” Paxton said in announcing the lawsuit. “We cannot allow platforms like Roblox to continue operating as digital playgrounds for predators where the well-being of our kids is sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed. Roblox must do more to protect kids from sick and twisted freaks hiding behind a screen. Any corporation that enables child abuse will face the full and unrelenting force of the law.”
The filing cites multiple criminal cases and lawsuits involving Texas children who were allegedly groomed and assaulted by predators they met through Roblox. It also accuses the company of ignoring repeated warnings about exploitation, failing to verify user ages or obtain parental consent, and cutting back on safety investments to satisfy investors.
Paxton’s office is seeking civil penalties, attorney fees, and a court injunction requiring Roblox to reform its safety and moderation systems.
In a statement to Texas Scorecard, a Roblox spokesperson pushed back on the allegations:
“We share Attorney General Paxton’s commitment to keeping kids and teens safe online, which is why we have implemented industry-leading protocols in an effort to protect users and remove bad actors. We are disappointed that, rather than working collaboratively with Roblox on this industry-wide challenge and seeking real solutions, the AG has chosen to file a lawsuit based on misrepresentations and sensationalized claims.
Roblox is deeply committed to child safety. Our policies are purposefully stricter than those found on many other platforms. We prohibit the sharing of images and videos in chat, use filters designed to block the exchange of personal information, and our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content. We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and continue to invest in advanced safety systems to set the gold standard in online safety for the industry.
We have introduced over 145 safety measures on the platform this year alone, and as a first for the industry, we recently announced that we are working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features soon, which will help prevent adults from chatting with minors.”
