Lawsuit Alleges Roblox Predator Groomed 13-Year-Old Girl for Explicit Photo Exchange Through Gaming Platform

Complaint was filed just days after a panel of federal judges centralized 80 similar Roblox sexual exploitation lawsuits before one judge in the Northern District of California.

A North Carolina father has filed a lawsuit against Roblox Corporation, after his 13-year-old daughter was targeted by a sexual predator pretending to be a child her age, indicating that the video gaming platform failed to implement proper safety technology that could have prevented the exploitation and grooming of his child, which led to the exchange of explicit photos.

The complaint (PDF) was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on December 17, by a plaintiff identified only as John Doe M.C., as guardian and next friend for his daughter, identified as Jane Doe M.C.

Roblox Child Sexploitation Concerns

Roblox is a popular video game construction set launched by Roblox Corporation in September 2006. The game has been aggressively marketed toward children and allows users to build their own games, create customized avatars, make in-game purchases and explore player-created games and worlds.

However, Roblox also includes a chat system that many parents and critics say has led to hundreds of reports of Roblox child exploitation, including grooming, blackmail, abductions, rape and human trafficking.

These incidents have resulted in a growing number of Roblox lawsuits filed throughout the U.S. over the past year, each raising similar allegations that the app was intentionally designed in ways that prioritized user engagement and revenue over child safety.

According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe, currently 15, was using Roblox at age 13 when she was sexually exploited by an adult predator who identified himself as a peer of her own age. Her father indicates the man manipulated his daughter to earn her trust, promising her friendship and connection.

However, his true intention was to manipulate the teen girl into sending him explicit photos of herself, the lawsuit indicates. Once the predator had built enough trust, he convinced the girl to give him her personal cellphone number and engaged in sexually explicit chat through text messaging.

“Since she was sexually exploited on Defendant’s app, Plaintiff has suffered, and continues to suffer, life-altering psychological and emotional injuries from the grooming, manipulation, and exploitation that she experienced on Defendant’s app, including severe mental anguish and pain, suicidal ideation, and loss of enjoyment of life. Plaintiff has endured, and continues to endure, humiliation, shame, constant fear, and a profound loss of trust, safety, and innocence.”

– John Doe et al v. Roblox Corporation

The lawsuit accuses Roblox Corporation of misleading parents into believing the platform was safe, when its lack of safety features made the app open season for child sex predators. The father says that Roblox advertised itself as family friendly and safe for children, which he says any reasonable parent would take to mean that the site protected children from sexual exploitation.

He presents claims of fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, negligence, negligence – failure to warn, negligence – unreasonable design, negligent undertaking, strict liability – design defect, and strict liability – failure to warn.

Last month, Roblox announced it was launching a new age-verification system designed to prevent adults from being able to chat with children on the platform at random, which parents indicate could have been implemented years ago.

The company now indicates it is monitoring all chat, which is filtered based on the users age, promising that it will block inappropriate content. In addition, the company prohibits image and video sharing in chat, and will begin preventing the addition of social media links early next year.

Roblox Child Exploitation Lawsuits

This latest lawsuit will be consolidated with other Roblox child exploitation lawsuits filed nationwide, which have been centralized in the Northern District of California under U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, who will oversee coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Judge Seeborg is expected to work with the parties to begin readying a series of early test cases known as “bellwether” trials, which will allow both sides to see how juries respond to evidence and testimony that would likely be employed throughout the litigation.

The outcomes of these bellwether trials, while not binding on other cases, will be closely watched by lawyers and families nationwide, as it could have a significant effect on any Roblox child exploitation settlement agreement. However, if no agreement is reached after the bellwether trials have concluded, Judge Seeborg may remand the claims back to their originating districts for individual trial dates.

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