Roblox Class Action Lawsuit Claims App Charges Children Money Without Parental Consent

Proposed class action also alleges Roblox collected and monetized minors’ personal data and communications without proper authorization.

A Hawaii parent has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Roblox and its payment processor, claiming the companies unlawfully charged families for purchases made by their children on the gaming platform.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Theodore Haugland in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii on July 17, naming Stripe Inc. and Roblox Corporation as defendants.

While many recently filed Roblox lawsuits focus on allegations that the company failed to protect children from online predators and sexual exploitation, this case centers on alleged unauthorized in-game purchases and the collection of children’s personal data and communications. Haugland seeks to represent a nationwide class of parents whose children under age 13 allegedly made Roblox purchases that were processed without proper authorization.

Roblox Exploitation Risks

Roblox is one of the world’s largest online gaming platforms, attracting tens of millions of users each day, many of them children. The company has long marketed the platform as a safe online environment, highlighting its parental controls, content moderation tools and other features intended to protect young users.

However, in addition to parental consent claims, a number of Roblox sexual exploitation lawsuits allege the company’s safeguards are inadequate and allow predators to use the platform to identify, contact and groom children. According to those claims, offenders frequently misrepresent their ages, develop relationships with minors through Roblox and then persuade them to continue conversations on other apps with fewer safety restrictions.

Lawsuits allege those interactions often escalate into exchanges of sexually explicit images and videos and, in some cases, lead to in-person meetings involving sexual assault, kidnapping or human trafficking.

Roblox Parental Verification Lawsuit

According to the complaint, Haugland’s two minor children used the Roblox platform during the proposed class period, which runs from January 1, 2019, through the entry of judgment.

The lawsuit alleges Roblox designed its platform to encourage children to purchase Robux virtual currency and Premium subscriptions through features intended to increase engagement and impulsive spending.

Haugland claims Roblox failed to implement legally required parental consent mechanisms before allowing purchases by children under 13, resulting in unauthorized charges to parents’ financial accounts.

The complaint further claims Stripe processed the Roblox transactions and collected fees from them, even though the company knew or should have known the purchases were being made by minors without verified parental consent.

“Plaintiff alleges Stripe had actual or constructive knowledge that many transactions involved under-13 accounts and that Roblox lacked verifiable parental consent, yet Stripe continued to process such transactions and retained fees.”

— Theodore Haugland v. Stripe Inc. et al.

Beyond the payment allegations, the lawsuit claims Roblox unlawfully intercepted, stored and disclosed children’s electronic communications and personal information while operating its online gaming platform.

The complaint alleges Roblox collected communications and behavioral data from minors in real time, retained those records and shared information with third parties without lawful authorization.

Based on those allegations, the lawsuit asserts claims under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Stored Communications Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, along with Hawaii consumer protection, fraud, negligence and other common-law claims.

Haugland seeks certification of several proposed classes, including a nationwide class of parents whose financial accounts were allegedly charged for Roblox purchases involving children under 13 without verifiable parental consent.

The lawsuit also proposes subclasses involving Stripe-processed transactions and claims related to the alleged interception of children’s electronic communications.

If certified, the proposed class would seek compensatory damages, statutory damages where available, restitution, disgorgement of profits, punitive damages, injunctive relief requiring enhanced parental consent and age-verification measures, and other relief the court determines is appropriate.

Roblox Child Exploitation Lawsuits

Haugland’s complaint comes as Roblox continues to face growing litigation over the safety and design of its online gaming platform. At least 170 Roblox child exploitation lawsuits have been centralized before U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in the Northern District of California, where the court is coordinating discovery and other pretrial proceedings.

As the litigation advances, the court is expected to establish a bellwether process, selecting a small group of representative cases for early trials. Those proceedings are intended to help the parties evaluate how juries may respond to common evidence and legal issues before larger numbers of cases move toward trial.

Earlier this year, Judge Seeborg appointed a special master to oversee preliminary settlement discussions. If those negotiations produce a broad agreement, many claims could be resolved without the need for individual trials.

If no global settlement is reached, the court is expected to remand individual lawsuits to the federal districts where they were originally filed for separate trials once coordinated pretrial proceedings are complete.

Roblox abuse lawyers continue to investigate potential exploitation lawsuits on behalf of families whose children were allegedly groomed, sextorted or abused after being contacted by predators through the gaming platform. Case evaluations are free, and there are no attorney fees or litigation costs unless compensation is recovered. 

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