AG Rokita Files Lawsuit Against Roblox and Discord
INDIANAPOLIS — On Thursday, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced a lawsuit against Roblox and Discord.
The lawsuit accuses the two online platforms of not doing enough to protect children from predators and seeks civil penalties and the disgorgement of all profits obtained through deceptive conduct. Rokita also demands injunctive and declaratory relief to prevent further harm on the platforms.
Roblox is an online gaming platform and Discord is an online messaging application.
“These companies, which cater to kids and young individuals, know full well that numerous predatory sex criminals have used these platforms to contact and lure their victims,” Rokita said. “And yet, they continue promoting themselves as safe for children. That is more than reckless. It’s a clear and ongoing violation of Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and we are working to hold them accountable to protect Hoosier families.”
Rokita’s office pointed to Tyler Thomas in the disappearance and death of Hailey Buzbee, a 17-year-old high school student from Fishers. Thomas and Buzbee met each other on the platforms earlier this year. She was then found dead in Ohio in January. Rokita says Buzbee represents one of at least three Indiana girls whom predators groomed or enticed away from home via Roblox.
The lawsuit says that Roblox allows “grossly inappropriate” and sexually explicit experiences to pervade the site unchecked. Rokita specifically targets Roblox’s virtual currency system, “Robux,” claiming it empowers predators to offer currency to children in exchange for photos. The company then collects a transaction fee on these exchanges, which the lawsuit characterizes as prioritizing corporate profit over child safety.
The lawsuit also claims Discord creates an environment where child sexual exploitation is “rampant and thriving.” Rokita accused Discord of refusing to implement simple age-verification measures that would prevent adults from misrepresenting their age to minors.
While both companies recently announced new safety features under public pressure, the Attorney General’s office questioned the effectiveness of those measures, arguing the platforms continue to violate the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by misrepresenting their safety to parents.
Rokita now seeks civil penalties of up to $5,000 per knowing violation, along with reimbursement for investigative costs.
Chief Safety Officer at Roblox Matt Kaufman released the following statement after the lawsuit was filed:
“We share Attorney General Rokita’s commitment to helping keep children safe online. Roblox has built a multilayered safety system that includes pioneering, industry-leading safeguards to help protect our users. You cannot exchange images or videos in chat, and we deploy a combination of advanced AI-powered detection, human moderation and rigorous filters designed to prevent the exchange of personal information. To help ensure the efficacy of these tools, we do not encrypt communications.
As part of our ongoing work to strengthen user protections, earlier this year we completed the global rollout of mandatory Facial Age Estimation, making Roblox the first online gaming platform to require age checks for all users to access chat features. This technology will also be used in the launch of our new age-based accounts for younger users to more closely align content access, chat settings and parental controls with a user’s age.
When we identify violations of our rules we take swift action and work closely with law enforcement to hold bad actors accountable. While no system can be perfect, we are constantly enhancing our safeguards, and we look forward to working constructively with the Attorney General’s office to help keep kids safe online.”
AG Rokita Files Lawsuit Against Roblox and Discord was originally published on wibc.com
