Louisiana’s main prosecutor demanded the popular Roblox online game platform on Thursday, claiming that his failure in implementing strong children’s security protocols has made it “the perfect place for pedophiles.”
The lawsuit, presented by the Attorney General Liz Murrill in the 21st Judicial District of Louisiana, accuses the company based in California to intentionally or recklessly designed a platform without a age verification process, which allows dozens of millions of Roblox users to easily create accounts with false birthdays.
Adults can raise as children, according to demand, and children can avoid controls for users under 13 years.
Rolled in 2006, Roblox has an extensive catalog of games and “experiences”, many of which are designed by users and include messages in real time. According to the company’s annual report of the company, 20% of the 82 million active users of the platform were under 9 years, says the demand.
“Roblox is invaded by harmful content and children’s predators because he prioritizes the growth of users, income and profits on child safety,” Murrill said in a statement. “All parents must be aware of clear and present danger [posed] For their children by Roblox so that they can prevent the unthinkable from happening in their own home. “
The 42 -page suit points to a series of sexually explicit “experiences” that have been on the platform, including “Escape to Epstein Island”, “Diddy Party” and “Public Bathom Simulator Vibe”, and alleges that a man arrested on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse in Louisiana last month was using the platform at the time he was arrested.
The man had used technology that alters the voice to imitate the sound of a young woman to sexually attract and exploit minors on the platform, according to demand.
The demand, which alleges unfair commercial practices, negligence and unfair enrichment, does not specify damage, but seeks a permanent order that prohibits Roblox from violating the law of unjust commercial practices of the State or promoting its security characteristics as adequate, what the demand says that routinely does.
A Roblox spokesman declined to comment on the accusations, citing pending litigation, but said that he dedicates “substantial resources” to help “detect and prevent content and behavior inappropriate, including attempts to direct users outside the platform, where safety standards and moderation can be less strict than ours.”
“While no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous technology and application safeguards, including restrictions for sharing personal information, links and sharing user images to user,” said the spokesman. “The security of our community is a priority.”
In November, the platform announced a series of security measures that prevented users under 13 from sending direct messages and included new content categories to help determine what is appropriate for age for users.
These measures were implemented the month After New York analyst, Hindenburg Research called Roblox as a “pedophile landscape with X classification, exposing children to preparation, 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 he described as a significant investment in measures of trust and security.
Thursday’s demand described the recent security measures of the company as “very little, too late, and unfortunately inappropriate.”
