Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier issued criminal subpoenas to the popular online gaming platform Roblox on Oct. 20 to investigate alleged company actions that might help sexual predators reach children.
In a video released on social media Monday, the attorney general alleged that Roblox profited off children while exposing them to dangerous harms.
“They enabled our kids to be abused,” he said. “Companies like Roblox have become breeding grounds for predators to get to and have access to our kids.”
The criminal subpoenas will enable the attorney general’s office to gather more information for prosecutors about the alleged criminal activity on the Roblox platform, and provide evidence on the predators that are out there and the victims being abused, Uthmeier said in the video.
Florida alleges multiple investigations of Roblox has revealed that predators are using the platform to access, communicate with, and groom minors.
Some of the allegations against Roblox include negligence in adequately verifying users’ ages and failures to block content that has allowed sexually explicit material to circulate within the platform.
Reports also suggest that predators are using the platform’s in-game currency, called “Robux,” to bribe minors into sending sexually explicit images of themselves, Uthmeier’s office stated.
Roblox responded to the announcement, saying they plan to cooperate with Uthmeier’s office’s investigation.
“We share Attorney General Uthmeier’s commitment to keeping kids safe and we will continue to assist his office in their investigations,” a Roblox spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. “We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and investing in advances safety systems to help protect our users and remove bad actors.”
The company prohibits sharing images and videos in its chat feature and uses filters to block the exchange of personal information, according to the company.
It also rolled out new safety features in July, including a new standard for communications between those younger and older than 18.
They also invested in new age-estimation technology to help confirm users’ ages, along with new privacy tools and insight tools for parents.
“While no system is perfect, our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content,” the spokesperson said.
Roblox started as a platform for children. Now, about 64 percent of its user base is age 13 or older, according to the company.
The company says it also constantly monitors all communication for critical harms and removes content that violates its rules.
The gaming platform has about 380 million monthly users around the world. The platform reported a record high of over 47 million players using it at a single time.
Florida is the third state to initiate legal action against the gaming company.
Two other states—Louisiana and Kentucky—have sued Roblox this year for similar claims of allowing harmful content and child predators to reach children.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman alleged the game company failed to implement sufficient safety controls to protect children and failed to inform children who use the platform and their parents of the inherent dangers involved.
Oklahoma has also taken steps to begin an official investigation into the company.
In September, an Oklahoma family sued the gaming site over alleged “sextortion” of their 12-year-old daughter. The family accused an adult who they said acted like a 15-year-old boy on the site of coercing the girl into sending him nude and explicit photos, according to The Oklahoman.
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