Instagram, Roblox and Snapchat Lawsuit Alleges Online Grooming Forced Family to Move After Threats

Lawsuit alleges predator groomed teen through Roblox and Snapchat, while Instagram’s platform exposes children to similar sexual exploitation risks.

An Oklahoma mother has filed a lawsuit alleging major social media companies failed to protect her teenage daughter from an online sexual predator, leaving the girl with lasting psychological injuries and requiring ongoing therapy.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by a woman identified as DLG-GAL-0078 on behalf of her 16-year-old daughter, DLG-0078, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on November 5. It names Roblox Corporation, Meta Platforms Inc. and Snap Inc. as defendants.

DLG-GAL-0078 maintains that all three companies knew about dangers to young users but prioritized growth over safety, failing to implement safeguards that could have prevented the abuse.

Online Grooming Risks

Roblox is a widely used online gaming platform that allows players, including children, to create and participate in interactive games, explore virtual worlds and communicate with other users through chat and messaging features.

However, a number of Roblox child sexual abuse lawsuits allege that inadequate age verification and user monitoring make it easy for adults to pose as children and contact minors. Plaintiffs claim these safety failures allow sexual predators to gain children’s trust, establish inappropriate relationships and move conversations to other platforms where exploitation can escalate.

Unlike traditional messaging services, Snapchat allows users to exchange private messages, photographs and videos, including content designed to disappear after being viewed. Recent lawsuits allege these features, along with ineffective parental controls and insufficient safety measures, can conceal predatory behavior, complicate efforts to preserve evidence and make it harder for parents to recognize signs of sexual exploitation.

Instagram, which is owned by Meta Platforms, has also faced scrutiny over whether its safety features adequately protect minors from unwanted contact with adults and exposure to sexually exploitative material.

Roblox and Snapchat Grooming Allegations

According to the complaint, DLG-0078 was 14 or 15 years old in May 2025 when an adult woman posing as a child her age approached her on Roblox and gained her trust.

The predator allegedly persuaded the teenager to communicate through Snapchat, where she manipulated the girl into sending sexually explicit photographs.

After learning the girl’s location, the predator allegedly threatened to harm her family, prompting them to move from their home out of fear for their safety.

DLG-0078 claims the exploitation caused severe psychological trauma and emotional distress, requiring ongoing therapy.

Instagram Child Sexual Exploitation Risks

Although the alleged grooming occurred through Roblox and Snapchat, the lawsuit also claims Meta’s Instagram platform exposes children to similar risks through inadequate safety protections.

The complaint challenges Instagram’s age verification and Teen Accounts features, alleging adults can misrepresent their identities while parents cannot review their children’s private messages.

It also cites Stanford University research identifying child sexual abuse material on Instagram and raising concerns that the platform’s search and recommendation features facilitate its discovery and distribution.

The lawsuit alleges Meta knew about these dangers for years but failed to adequately remove exploitative material, while implementing messaging encryption that complicated efforts to detect abuse.

“Had Defendants implemented even the most basic system of screening or age and identity verification, as well as other basic safety measures, Plaintiff never would have interacted with this predator and never would have suffered the harm that she did. Plaintiff’s life has been devastated as a direct result of Defendants’ conduct.”

— DLG-GAL-0078 et al. v. Roblox Corporation et al.

The lawsuit raises allegations of fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, negligence, failure to warn, unreasonable design, negligent undertaking and design defect. It seeks general and special damages for physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and medical expenses.

Roblox Child Exploitation Lawsuits

DLG-0078’s complaint joins nearly 200 Roblox sexual exploitation lawsuits pending before U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in the Northern District of California, where the claims have been centralized for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

As the litigation moves forward, Judge Seeborg is expected to establish a bellwether trial process involving a limited number of representative cases that will be presented to juries first. Although the verdicts will not determine the outcomes of remaining lawsuits, they may help both sides evaluate the strength of their arguments and assess how juries are likely to respond to evidence presented in similar claims.

The court also appointed a special master earlier this year to assist with preliminary Roblox settlement discussions, which could help resolve large numbers of claims without the need for individual trials.

However, if those negotiations and the bellwether process do not lead to a broader agreement, cases that remain unresolved may eventually be returned to their original federal courts for separate trials.

Roblox sexual exploitation lawyers continue evaluating claims involving children who were allegedly groomed or sexually exploited through the gaming platform. These cases are handled on a contingency fee basis, meaning families do not pay attorney fees or litigation costs unless compensation is recovered through a settlement or jury award.

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