“Roblox” may be marketed as a kid-friendly app, but Louisiana Attorney General Liz Merrill’s lawsuit suggests otherwise, stating that kids could access explicit content on games. This is but one such lawsuit against “Roblox” as players discover the dark side of their beloved game. Other allegations include that it has become a platform used by pedophiles to lure children. These serious issues have players, parents, and the government wondering if “Roblox” should be allowed to continue to exist without consequence.
A major case of pedophilia is with a High Point mother and her 10-year-old. Her daughter had been groomed. At first, her child had become friends with the pedophile, talking for a while before they tricked her into moving to a less monitored app. A screenshot taken by the child stated that the pedophile had asked her to add him on Snapchat, being lured into doing this with the promise of getting the virtual currency, “Robux”. This isn’t the first time that someone has asked a child to move to a more secretive app. The main websites being used for this type of behavior are Snapchat and Discord. The mother and daughter are currently asking for 25 thousand plus legal fees in their lawsuit against the Roblox Corporation. The situation escalated even further when “Roblox” decided to ban a user by the name of “Schlep,” who claimed to have exposed multiple pedophiles. This case—as well as many others—have alienated many fans and parents.
“Over the years I have watched as ‘Roblox’ lost what it stood for as it became more of a company based on making more money and less on the safety and security of their users,” said freshman Andrew Lindstrom, who has been playing Roblox for the past five years.
“They should do better with moderation and keeping kids safe, because right now… [there are] inappropriate games that ‘Roblox’ doesn’t even see or catch,” said junior Lukasz Petrocci. “‘Roblox’ needs to be fixed to be as good as it was in the past.”
“If I knew [kids] were able to talk to adults on ‘Roblox,’ I wouldn’t allow it,” said english teacher (and parent) Mrs. Jennifer Kottra ‘01.
Roblox has taken some action, but not enough to remove explicit content. They are also thinking of launching a dating feature. Although e-daters are already prevalent on the online platform, this feature would be exclusive to people over 21, and would have to be ID verified. Considering that many users have already avoided the ID verification for the voice chat feature, this does not offer much reassurance. With those storm clouds looming on the horizon, the future of Roblox remains uncertain.