Roblox Sexual Exploitation Lawsuit Alleges 15-Year-Old Girl Was Groomed by Online Predator

Company faces scrutiny over concerns that its communication tools, virtual currency and other features may expose children to sexual predators seeking to contact and groom minors.

A 15-year-old Florida girl has filed a lawsuit alleging Roblox and Snapchat failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect her from an individual posing as a teenage boy who groomed and sexually exploited her.

The complaint (PDF) was brought on September 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of a minor identified only as AW-0020, through her court-appointed guardian, AW-GAL-0020. The lawsuit names Roblox Corporation and Snap Inc. as defendants.

AW-0020 claims the two companies promoted their platforms as safe for children despite knowing their designs and inadequate age-verification and safety systems exposed minors to predators.

Roblox Child Safety Concerns

Roblox is one of the world’s largest online gaming platforms, where users can create avatars, play virtual games, interact with one another and communicate through various social features.

Despite promoting its platform as suitable for children, the company has faced mounting scrutiny from parents, child safety advocates and regulators over concerns that its communication tools, virtual currency and other features may expose young users to sexual predators seeking to contact and groom minors.

Amid those issues, a number of Roblox lawsuits allege the company placed user growth and engagement ahead of child safety by failing to adopt adequate age verification, parental controls, content moderation and other protections intended to prevent predators from targeting children online.

Roblox Sexual Exploitation Allegations

According to the complaint, AW-0020 is a Hillsborough County, Florida, resident who used Roblox and Snapchat for several years for entertainment and social interaction.

However, the lawsuit indicates an online predator pretending to be a teenage boy approached her through Roblox in 2024. The predator allegedly groomed her through both Roblox and Snapchat, coercing her into sending images of herself, while also sending sexually explicit images and videos of himself to her.

AW-0020 says the exploitation caused significant emotional distress, psychological trauma and self-harm, as well as lasting problems involving trust, personal security and healthy development. The lawsuit characterizes those injuries as severe, ongoing and permanent.

The complaint maintains AW-0020’s mother would never have permitted her daughter to use the platforms if Roblox and Snap had adequately disclosed the prevalence of predatory conduct. It argues meaningful age and identity verification, user screening and other basic safeguards could have prevented the teenager from encountering the predator.

“Through numerous well-documented and publicized cases, Roblox has long been aware of the systemic exploitation that its app enables and facilitates. For years, countless children have been sexually exploited and abused by predators they met on Roblox.”

—AW-0020 v. Roblox Corporation et al.

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

Roblox Sexual Exploitation Lawsuits

The complaint joins more than 180 Roblox child sexual exploitation lawsuits currently pending before U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in the Northern District of California, where the federal cases have been consolidated for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

As part of those proceedings, Judge Seeborg is expected to establish a bellwether program that will select a small group of representative claims for early trial dates. While the outcomes will not be binding on other families, the trials may provide insight into how juries respond to evidence and arguments likely to be repeated throughout the litigation.

Earlier this year, the court also appointed a special master to facilitate preliminary settlement negotiations. Successful talks could provide a framework for resolving a large amount of claims without requiring each case to proceed to trial.

However, if the bellwether process and negotiations fail to produce a broader resolution, unresolved federal lawsuits may eventually be returned to the courts where they originated for individual trial proceedings.

Roblox sexual exploitation lawyers are reviewing claims on a contingency fee basis, meaning families pay no attorney fees or litigation expenses unless compensation is obtained through a settlement or jury verdict.

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