The office of Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, put out a press release earlier today stating that he has sued Roblox Corporation, the creators of the popular community-creation driven multiplayer platform. This is not the first instance of the gaming company’s encounter with legal action from The United States government, as multiple AGs including Kentucky’s Russell Coleman and Louisiana’s Liz Murrill have filed against Roblox recently. This legal action has been taken in regards to the alleged mishandling of online safety features and moderation by the company, which Paxton alleges;
…put pixel pedophiles and corporate profit over the safety of Texas children.
Roblox, which was released back in 2006, is an account-based gaming platform where users can either develop their own experiences or play them with others on community servers. It is free-to-play, but features cosmetic microtransactions that can be purchased with the game’s currency, Robux. It is massively popular–one of the most played games in the world, in fact–and averages millions of concurrent players daily. Its widespread appeal can probably be attributed to its user lead design, which facilitates making basically any pre-existing game accessible for no cost, such as Phantom Forces, game mode that bears a striking resemblance to shooter titles like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Due to this, as well as Roblox’s availability on virtually all platforms, it’s not really a surprise that the game appeals to children, and derives almost 40% of its users from players under the age of 13. Roblox does have multiple safety features to “create a fun and safe environment,” like restricted chat for underage players and parental oversight abilities, but Paxton’s official press release alleges the game for;
…flagrantly ignoring state and federal online safety laws while deceiving parents about the dangers of the platform.
Again, this is not the first time Roblox has come under fire for alleged misconduct. There have been many lawsuits filed by parents over the past few years, and just the previous week, according to ABC news, California judge denied the company’s attempt to move one parent’s suit into a privately settled arbitration process. What the culmination of the mounting legal pressure on Roblox Corporation will result in for the company or the game itself is unclear as of now, but it’s certainly a stark reminder of the darker side of online player interactions. For more on this, check out our story about a Youtuber who was banned by Roblox for alleged predator sting operations.