Alabama Hits Roblox with $12.2 Million Settlement Over Child Safety Concerns

Alabama has reached a $12.2 million settlement with Roblox, making it the second U.S. state to settle a case with the gaming platform over child safety issues.

Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the deal on Tuesday, following a similar settlement Nevada struck with Roblox just a week earlier for $12 million.

Neither state filed an official lawsuit. Instead, both settlements were negotiated directly.

"Platforms that host child consumers must do their part to give parents a fighting chance to shield their children from harm," Marshall said. "While parents will always play the primary role in protecting their children online, we are raising the bar on what we expect from gaming platforms. Parents need a partner, not a black box."

What Roblox Has Agreed To

As part of the Alabama settlement, Roblox will be required to roll out a number of safety changes. Here is what the platform committed to:

• Age verification for all users to keep minors in age-appropriate spaces

• Stronger parental controls over who children can talk to and what games they can access

• Restrictions on chats between adults and minors unless marked as trusted contacts

• Parental permission required for users under 13 to add trusted friends

• Limits on Robux transfers from adults outside a child's trusted circle

• Built-in default protections for minors when no parent account is linked

• An end to encrypted communication involving minors, making it easier for law enforcement to investigate abuse

Marshall confirmed that some of these changes are already live, while others are expected to be in place between May 1 and September 1, 2026.

Where Does the Money Go?

The $12.2 million will go directly toward funding school resource officers through the Attorney General's Safe School Initiative. The rest will be used to support a company law enforcement liaison and an online safety awareness campaign.

UPDATE: West Virginia also reached an $11 million settlement with Roblox on the same day for the same reasons, making it the third U.S. state to do so. Attorney General JB McCuskey confirmed the agreement. Part of the funds will go toward safety efforts specific to West Virginia — $500,000 for safety education workshops for parents and children across the state, a $1.5 million three-year public safety campaign, and $2.4 million over six years for a dedicated internet safety specialist.

Broader Context

Roblox, which boasts over 151 million users worldwide, has been under serious pressure over alleged child safety failures. These include reports of predatory behavior and sexually explicit or violent content in user-generated games on the platform.

More than 100 families have filed individual lawsuits against the company, all of which have since been consolidated into multidistrict litigation in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. On top of that, at least seven other states still have pending litigation against Roblox.

Roblox has not been sitting still, to be fair. The platform has introduced parental control suites, stricter age verification policies, and plans to launch age-based separate accounts for minors in June 2026.