Florida AG Will Investigate Whether Roblox Harms Children, Issues Trio of Subpoenas
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) issued criminal subpoenas Monday to Roblox to investigate whether the gaming platform’s actions -- or lack of them -- aided bad actors in harming children on the platform.
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The AG's move comes in the wake of two other states suing Roblox for violating child privacy laws and exploiting children. Uthmeier in April also subpoenaed the platform for information about minors’ safety (see 2504160045).
“Platforms like Roblox have become breeding grounds for predators to gain access to our kids,” said Uthmeier in a release Monday.
According to the AG’s office, multiple investigations have shown that sexual predators use Roblox to access and communicate with minors, including using its in-game currency to bribe them into sharing sexually explicit images of themselves.
Uthmeier also noted "troubling allegations" that Roblox has been negligent in verifying users’ ages and had failures on content moderation. Roblox announced in July that it would use age estimation to create separate child, teen and adult experiences on its platform (see 2507180059).
In an email to Privacy Daily, a Roblox spokesperson said the platform shares Uthmeier's "commitment to keeping kids safe" and "will continue to assist his office in their investigations." The spokesperson added, "We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and investing in advanced safety systems to help protect our users and remove bad actors."
Roblox said it prohibits sharing images and videos in chat, "uses filters designed to block the exchange of personal information," and is "working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features." While admitting that "no system is perfect," the company pledged to lead the industry "in safety and transparency.”
Age-estimation technology will roll out globally "by the end of the year," it said, adding that Roblox started as a platform for children, though now 64% of its users are 13 or older.
In August, Louisiana’s attorney general accused Roblox of facilitating the distribution of child sexual abuse material and potentially violating federal child privacy statutes (see 2508140051). The platform denied it (see 2508150046).
Earlier this month, Kentucky’s attorney general also sued the platform for alleged exploitation of children (see 2510070042).