ST. LOUIS — A Missouri mother filed a federal lawsuit accusing Roblox of designing, marketing and operating its mobile- and web-based application in ways that enabled a predator to sexually exploit her 13-year-old daughter.
The complaint, brought by Jane Doe G.C. as guardian and next friend of minor plaintiff Jane Doe A.C., seeks damages and alleges that Roblox’s safety representations were deceptive, its safeguards inadequate and its growth priorities placed children at risk, according to the Sept. 17 complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
The minor child was an avid user of Roblox and relied on the app for entertainment and social interaction, the complaint states.
A predator posing as a fellow child then used Roblox to build trust, moved the conversation to text messages and then sent graphic communications and sexually explicit images of himself before convincing the child to send sexually explicit images of herself.
The lawsuit asserts that these harms were a direct result of Roblox’s design choices and safety failures, and that the company “prioritizes growing the number of users of its app over child safety.”
The lawsuit cites a former employee’s characterization of the company’s approach.
“You have to make a decision, right? You can keep your players safe, but then it would be less of them on the platform,” the former employee said, the lawsuit states. “Or you just let them do what they want to do. And then the numbers all look good and investors will be happy.”
Framing Roblox as a child-oriented platform launched in 2006 and accessible on consoles, computers, tablets and phones, the filing describes a system with millions of user-generated “experiences” and extensive social features — friend requests, in-game chat, direct messages and voice chat — that it says make children “easy prey for pedophiles.”
The complaint states that sign-up requires only a birthdate, username and password, with no minimum age and no verification to confirm a user’s age or parental permission.
It alleges that until November 2024, adults could directly message children under any default settings and that, even now, children can self-report older ages and adults can pose as minors, leaving children 13 and older vulnerable to friend requests and in-experience messaging from strangers.
The lawsuit describes what it calls a predictable grooming pattern on Roblox: predators misstate their age, cultivate rapport in games and move conversations to other platforms such as Snapchat or Discord to solicit explicit content or attempt in-person meetings.
It alleges that Roblox’s in-game currency, Robux, is used in extortion or quid-pro-quo exchanges tied to the exploitation of minors, with Roblox benefiting from transaction fees.
The plaintiffs contend that Roblox could have implemented basic identity verification, parental consent processes recognized by the Federal Trade Commission, gated environments for younger children, limitations on adult-child contact and device or network-level blocks to deter repeat offenders, but chose not to.
The complaint also criticizes what it calls inadequate moderation staffing and self-reported safety metrics, pointing to rising reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as presented in the filing and alleging that Roblox’s data and filters allow simple workarounds through alternative spellings and emojis for off-platform contact.
The plaintiffs allege extensive, ongoing harm to the minor child, including significant emotional distress, psychological trauma and lasting impacts on trust and development.
It states the plaintiff never entered into any valid contract with Roblox and disaffirms any terms and conditions, including arbitration or delegation clauses the company might assert.
The plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by Laci Whitley and Edward Wallace of Wallace Miller in Chicago; Matthew A. Dolman, R. Stanley Gipe and Sara D. Beller of Dolman Law Group in Clearwater, Fla.; and Davis Cooper and Joe Masterman of Cooper Masterman in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri case number: 4:25-cv-01402
