Back in August a class-action lawsuit was filed against Roblox alleging that the gaming platform facilitates illegal child gambling, and now the company has been named in yet another civil lawsuit, this one from families who say they have lost a large amount of money after being told by Roblox that the site was “safe and appropriate” for children.
The complaint was filed in San Diego Superior Court and accuses Roblox of “intentional and negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and State Consumer Protection Acts.”
The complaint notes that to participate in the Roblox community players, who are often young children, need to use Robux, a digital currency that the children may not realize is tied to actual real-world currency, or that can’t appreciate the value of that currency due to their age.
“Roblox is an astoundingly popular platform, on par with Barbie and Lego as a one-word brand name that sparks trust among parents and educators. But it’s a misplaced trust and is completely undeserved,” said Anne Andrews, Founding Partner of Andrews & Thornton, one of the law firms involved in the suit. “Parents need to know about the dangers that children encounter in Roblox’s metaverse, and children need to know that when they are spending Robux, they are spending their parents’ real money. Roblox claims it goes ‘above and beyond’ to keep kids safe, but the systems that monitor lewd behavior often fail, and the platform makes it nearly impossible for parents to monitor, track, and quantify where and how children spend their money.
According to the February 2022 SEC filing, 60% of Roblox users are under the age of 16, 23% of those users are between the ages of 9-12 and 22% are under the age of 9.
The lawsuit claims that parents have encountered their children playing with “nude avatars, avatars engaging in intercourse, and use of sex toys, as well as virtual strip clubs.” Several of the parents also mention incidents of grooming on the platform as well as links being sent to children for pornography sites.
The parents allege that despite Roblox’s Community Guidelines, which state “If your child is under 13, we make it extremely difficult for strangers on Roblox to contact them,” almost all of the safeguards on the platform are disabled by default.
