The Brief
A Texas man is suing Roblox, claiming the game enabled a predator to abuse him as a child.
The lawsuit alleges the company knowingly failed to protect minors while prioritizing profits.
This is part of a growing number of similar lawsuits against Roblox across the country.
DALLAS - A Texas man is suing Roblox, a popular online video game largely marketed towards children, over claims that the game negligently enables pedophiles to prey on children.
The plaintiff claims in his lawsuit that he was the victim of such an incident through the alleged negligence of the game, leaving him with lasting trauma.
Texas Roblox lawsuit
The claim
The plaintiff, now a U.S. Marine Corps veteran living in Ellis County, claims his incident happened in 2007, when he was 11 years old. A court filing obtained on Thursday by FOX 4 details the plaintiff's claims.
He says he was coerced into online sexual favors by another Roblox user who claimed to also be a minor. The predator eventually lured the plaintiff to come to his home, the court filing says, where he turned out to be a 30-year-old man.
The filing says the plaintiff was sexually abused by the predator, and has since suffered lasting mental distress and psychological suffering, leading to long-term health and economic damages.
The plaintiff claims that Roblox allows for countless children to fall prey to such schemes by not properly considering the safety of their users. The filing quotes a former Roblox employee, who allegedly said the company weighs child safety against investors' satisfaction.
Roblox responds
The other side
FOX 4 reached out to Roblox Corporation for a statement on the lawsuit. The statement from a Roblox spokesperson reads in full below:
"We are deeply troubled by any incident that endangers our users, and safety is a top priority. We dedicate substantial resources, including advanced technology and 24/7 human moderation, to help detect and prevent inappropriate content and behavior, including attempts to direct users off platform, where safety standards and moderation may be less stringent than ours.
"While no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous safeguards, including restrictions on sharing personal information, links, and user-to-user image sharing, and prohibiting sexual conversations. We also partner with law enforcement and leading child safety organizations worldwide to combat the sexual exploitation of children."
Roblox also included background on safety standards for their game. To read further about Roblox safety, click here.
What is Roblox?
Dig deeper
Roblox is an online multiplayer video game marketed towards children, which has been available to the public for nearly two decades.
The game allows for users to create their own video games, which can be shared and played with friends and strangers online. The game as a whole does not have an ESRB rating, such as "E for Everyone" or "T for Teen," but instead allows ratings to be given to each individual game.
Players can communicate with other users through many of the games, with some types of games even being designed with the specific purpose of hosting online conversations.
Is Roblox safe for children?
Critics of the game, often parents of young children with whom the game is popular, question whether there are enough safeguards in place to prevent communication between children and adults.
While users are able to type messages to each other to communicate, explicit, sexual and other inappropriate words and phrases are blocked from use, and will not be shown when sent.
That said, warping the spelling of banned words can often get the user's message across while technically avoiding use of prohibited language.
Roblox is currently under fire from numerous lawsuits nationwide, which make similar claims to the Texas suit.
The Source
Information in this article comes from a North Texas court filing and Roblox Corporation.
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