In August 2025, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill made legal history when she filed a sweeping child-protection lawsuit against Roblox Corporation, the Silicon Valley company behind one of the world’s most popular online gaming platforms for children and teens. The state alleges that Roblox not only failed to safeguard children from online predators but has effectively “created, curated and perpetuated” an environment where exploitation can flourish.
The lawsuit filed, in Livingston Parish’s 21st Judicial District Court, paints a stark picture: user-generated games on Roblox that supposedly contain sexually explicit material, predators able to pose as minors, and insufficient safety controls to keep bad actors off the platform. Among titles cited in the court filings are games with names such as “Escape to Epstein Island” and “Public Bathroom Simulator Vibe,” which investigators say include simulated sexual activity.
“It’s a platform where child sex predators thrive, unite, hunt, and victimize kids,” Murrill said, pledging to hold the company accountable and protect Louisiana’s children.
Roblox began in 2006 as a vision of creative, interactive play for kids and teens. Today, it claims hundreds of millions of users worldwide, many of them under 13, a demographic the company says it aims to protect with age-based restrictions and automated moderation.
But the Louisiana lawsuit asserts that those protections are not enough. According to court documents, predators exploited weaknesses in Roblox’s age verification system, easily creating accounts with bogus birthdays and engaging in live chat with young users sometimes with allegedly dire results. One incident cited in the complaint involved law enforcement executing a search warrant on a Louisiana residence tied to a user possessing child sexual abuse material while reportedly logged into Roblox, using voice-altering technology to pose as a young girl. The complaint demands changes that go beyond financial penalties: mandatory age verification, stronger content moderation, parental notification, restitution to the state, and a permanent injunction against practices the AG says put children at risk.
Roblox Corporation has responded publicly to the lawsuit, but stopped short of addressing specific allegations, citing company policy for not commenting on pending litigation. The company says it is committed to safety and has rolled out over 40 new protective features, including enhanced moderation, stricter chat defaults for younger users, and content filters, though critics argue these measures still fall short.
Roblox insists that no company can eliminate bad actors on a platform of its size, but that it continuously innovates to block harmful behavior. It also notes that distancing users into other online services, where safety standards differ, can further complicate protections.
Louisiana’s lawsuit is not an isolated flashpoint. Attorneys in general in other states, including Kentucky, Florida, and Texas, have filed similar actions or investigations, alleging that Roblox’s safeguards are inadequate and that the company has prioritized growth over child safety.
Meanwhile, hundreds of civil lawsuits alleging exploitation through Roblox are being centralized in federal court in San Francisco, a sign that legal pressures on the company extend from staterooms to courtrooms.
For parents, educators, and lawyers, the lawsuit has ignited a broader debate: what responsibility should companies like Roblox have for policing interactions between users? And how much can technological tools realistically protect children online?
Supporters of the Louisiana case argue that the world’s biggest children’s gaming platform must do more than hope algorithms and volunteer moderators catch predators. They want enforceable standards, not voluntary guidelines to protect the youngest users.
Critics of the lawsuit, meanwhile, warn that overly aggressive regulation could fundamentally change how kids interact online, potentially requiring intrusive identity verification that raises privacy concerns.
Edited by Ivana Rajkumar and Tatianna Brooks
