Los Angeles County Sues Roblox Over Child Safety Failures

Image via Roblox and Canva

Los Angeles County has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, accusing the popular gaming platform of "failing to protect children from sexual predators and explicit content."

The lawsuit, filed by County Counsel Dawyn R. Harrison on behalf of the people of California, claims that Roblox markets itself as a safe and child-friendly space while knowingly allowing dangerous conditions to persist on its platform.

The county is seeking civil penalties of up to $2,500 for each violation of California's Unfair Competition and False Advertising laws, along with coverage of legal fees.

"This lawsuit is about protecting children from online predators and inappropriate content," said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis. "Roblox has a responsibility to keep kids safe but instead it has allowed its platform to become a place where children can be exposed to grooming and exploitation."

According to the lawsuit, "beneath the bright animation and cheerful branding lies an environment in which child predators can readily locate, contact, and interact with minors through Roblox-enabled features and defaults."

That is a pretty damning picture for a platform that boasts over 144 million daily active users, with more than 40% of them under the age of 13.

"This is not about a minor lapse in safety. It is about a company that gives pedophiles powerful tools to prey on innocent and unsuspecting children," Harrison said. "The trauma that results is horrific, from grooming to exploitation to actual assault. This needs to stop."

Roblox, for its part, pushed back firmly against the allegations."Roblox is built with safety at its core, and we continue to evolve and strengthen our protections every day," a company spokesperson said.

The company also noted that as of January, it requires all users to undergo a facial age check to use the chat feature, and that parents have controls to manage their child's access, block users, and set screen time limits. "There is no finish line when it comes to protecting kids, and while no system can be perfect, our commitment to safety never ends," the spokesperson added.

However, as per reports from the LA County Counsel's office, the lawsuit specifically accuses Roblox of failing to implement age verification, default communication restrictions, and effective reporting tools. The complaint bluntly states that "these fixes are obvious, easy, and long overdue."

This lawsuit does not come out of nowhere. South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Iowa have all launched legal probes against Roblox in recent months, many of which have already turned into full lawsuits. A 2024 report by Hindenburg Research described the platform as an “X-rated pedophile hellscape” that exposed children to grooming and pornography. Australia's government also sought an urgent meeting with Roblox this month over child safety concerns.

On top of that, the platform is currently facing around 80 child exploitation suits and 100 addiction cases filed by parents across the country.

One particularly heartbreaking case that drew national attention involved a California mother who sued Roblox after her teenage son took his own life in April 2024. Attorneys for the mother alleged that her son was targeted by an adult predator who posed as a child on the platform, gradually escalating conversations toward explicit content before threatening to leak images the boy had been coerced into sharing.