‘We want accountability’: Nebraskan sues Roblox over child predator allegations
By Bill Schammert
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OMAHA, Neb. (KETV) — A Nebraskan, named John Doe in a recently filed lawsuit, alleges the video game Roblox is a safe haven for adult sexual predators and pedophiles “who use the unreasonably dangerous and negligently designed app to gain access to and prey upon thousands of unsuspecting minors,” according to the lawsuit.
“I had no idea that there were certain features of Roblox that made it attractive to child predators,” said attorney Melinda Maxson, who represents John Doe.
According to the lawsuit, John Doe was 14 or 15 years old when he met a person on Roblox. That person initially told John Doe they were younger, but they were actually 35 to 40 years old.
The lawsuit alleges the perpetrator groomed John Doe, eventually proposing that the two meet up, and took John Doe to their house an hour away.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys said it was an act of manipulation.
“He was taken the perpetrator’s home and sexually abused, and has suffered horrific trauma ever since,” said attorney Martin Gould, who also represents John Doe.
A spokesperson for Roblox responded to the lawsuit and said, “We are deeply troubled by any incident that endangers our users. Roblox’s vision is to be the safest platform on the internet, which is why our policies are purposely stricter than those found on many other platforms.”
The lawsuit acknowledges that Roblox’s default settings do not allow for adults to directly message children under the age of 13, but states Roblox does not have settings to prevent children from creating fake accounts with birthdates that would make them older than 13 years old.
“Two primary claims fall into two categories — deceptive, misleading advertising and product design,” Gould said.
Roblox did not address the specific allegations covered in the lawsuit but said it limits chat for young users, doesn’t allow for the sharing of external images, and has filters designed to block the sharing of personal information.
“We believe Roblox is responsible for certainly many parents — myself included — thinking it was perfectly fine for their kids to play Roblox, and in reality, it was not safe,” Maxson said.
The Roblox spokesperson continued, “We are continually innovating and investing in safety. While no system is perfect, this year alone we have made over 100 safety enhancements to help protect our users and empower parents and caregivers with greater control and visibility.”
“We also understand that this is an industry-wide issue, and we are working to develop industry-wide standards and solutions focused on keeping children safe online. For instance, Roblox has taken an industry-leading stance on age-based communication and will require facial age estimation for all Roblox users who access our communications features by the end of this year and is a founding member of the Tech Coalition’s Lantern project and the Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST). We partner with law enforcement and leading child safety and mental health organizations worldwide to combat the sexual exploitation of children.”
The lawsuit seeks damages to be decided at trial that “compensate John Doe for injuries sustained as a result of the use of Defendant’s product, including but not limited to physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and expenses for medical treatments.”
“We want accountability,” Gould said. “We want victims to be compensated. We want them to get some sort of closure.”
No hearing date has been set.
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