Roblox faces lawsuit claiming it lacks child safety measures
Complaint alleges its difficult to monitor minors' spending habits and does not protect children against grooming
Original story, November 9, 2023: A cohort of parents filed a civil lawsuit against Roblox, claiming that monetary losses were suffered due to its lack of child safety precautions.
The suit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, accuses the games platform of violating California's Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and State Consumer Protection Acts.
The parents also allege that due to Roblox's lax protocols, their children spent thousands of dollars on the platform, were exposed to adult content, and were in danger of grooming.
"Not only does Roblox obscure the real price of in-app purchases on the front end and make it hard for parents to monitor those purchases, but its misrepresentations about the safety of its product also render those purchases worthless or worth less than bargained for," the lawsuit said.
The complaint was originally filed in August but was amended to add additional plaintiffs. This lawsuit joins another class action lawsuit that accused Roblox of facilitating "an illegal gambling ecosystem."
Update, November 10, 2023: Roblox has responded to GamesIndustry.biz with the following statement, stating that it disputes the allegations and will respond in court.
"Roblox is committed to providing a positive and safe experience for people of all ages. We have an expert team of thousands of people dedicated to moderation and safety on Roblox 24/7, and we act swiftly to block inappropriate content or behavior when detected, including sexual content which violates our Community Standards," a spokesperson said.
"We have a number of features specifically designed to keep kids safe including filtering text chat on the platform to block inappropriate content or personal information and offering parental controls and features to limit or turn off chat. We have invested in building tools to give parents visibility into their children's activity, including to prevent them from making unauthorized purchases.
"We also partner with more than 20 leading global organizations that focus on child safety, online safety, or both, and belong to a number of industry organizations developing best practices to keep users, particularly children, safe."