'Roblox must do more to protect kids from sick and twisted freaks,' Texas attorney general says as he sues Roblox 'for putting pixel pedophiles and profits' ahead of safety

The "let's sue Roblox" bandwagon has grown a little bit bigger as Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has announced that he's filed suit against the company "for flagrantly ignoring state and federal online safety laws while deceiving parents about the dangers of its platform." Roblox has denied the claim, saying the Texas lawsuit is "based on misrepresentations and sensationalized claims."

"We cannot allow platforms like Roblox to continue operating as digital playgrounds for predators where the well-being of our kids is sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed," Paxton said in a press release. "Roblox must do more to protect kids from sick and twisted freaks hiding behind a screen. Any corporation that enables child abuse will face the full and unrelenting force of the law."

The lawsuit claims Roblox "has marketed itself as the world’s safest and most family-friendly online gaming platform for kids," but that in reality "is a sprawling and unregulated digital playground that is overrun by predators and saturated with sexual content." It also accuses the company of encouraging "compulsive purchases" with its Robux in-game currency, which also makes it easier for predators to target children: "Rather than being lured by candy, modern-day predators have lured children with Robux."

The Texas lawsuit follows similar legal action taken by Louisiana and Kentucky, and a criminal investigation launched by the state of Florida, and bears many of the same hallmarks, including a slate of images from various Roblox "experiences" featuring Nazi and KKK avatars, what I'm pretty sure is a naked sex party on a boat, and "examples of Roblox games modelled after Diddy's sex trafficking ventures."

And, like those previous lawsuits, it alleges that Roblox "continues to falsely and aggressively market itself as an 'industry leader' when it comes to child safety," and that the technology Roblox has trumpeted as central to its moderation efforts "has proven grossly inadequate and insufficient to protect children."

Roblox's most recent "Safety Snapshot" update, posted November 5, cites what it says are ongoing efforts "to continue to innovate around safety," which includes open-sourcing a version of its Roblox PII Classifier,"which has significantly enhanced our ability to detect and block attempts to violate our strict policies around sharing personally identifiable information (PII)," and changing how it handles user-reported incidents of abuse.

It also provided updates on existing partnerships with "key stakeholders," including—ironically, given all the state attorneys general who are suing Roblox—the Partnership for Youth Online Safety recently established with the Attorney General Alliance. In October, the AGA praised Roblox for "for its readiness to collaborate directly with policymakers and respond to community concerns."

"We share Attorney General Paxton’s commitment to keeping kids and teens safe online, which is why we have implemented industry-leading protocols in an effort to protect users and remove bad actors," a Roblox spokesperson said in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "We are disappointed that, rather than working collaboratively with Roblox on this industry-wide challenge and seeking real solutions, the AG has chosen to file a lawsuit based on misrepresentations and sensationalized claims.

"Roblox is deeply committed to child safety. Our policies are purposefully stricter than those found on many other platforms. We prohibit the sharing of images and videos in chat, use filters designed to block the exchange of personal information and our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content. We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and continue to invest in advanced safety systems to set the gold standard in online safety for the industry."