By Michaela Gordoni
Roblox has been on the National Center for Sexual Exploitation’s naughty list for years, but the game’s vice president says any reason for concern happened five years ago.
“The reason why we’re here, it’s so important for us to really land the message of how much we prioritize safety,” Roblox vice president of civility and partnerships Tami Bhaumik said Tuesday. “I’m gonna call out the elephant in the room: many of you may have seen negative press about Roblox in the last month or so.”
“And it’s very important — because we’re meeting now with safety organizations, researchers, academics, we’re meeting with governments — to really, really make it very clear what a safety framework is and how much we prioritize it,” the VP said. “We’ve launched over 100 new safety features over the course of the last year. A lot of the negative press has come from things that have happened five years ago.”
Bhaumik reiterated that the platform prioritizes safety and that it is different now than it was even months earlier. Roblox says it will implement an age-estimation tool on the platform by the end of this year.
The platform has come under fire for allowing predators on the platform, trying to attract adult gamers and allowing inappropriate games and virtual places like nightclubs.
Related: Roblox Faces Class Action Lawsuit for Enabling Underage Gambling on Site
NCOSE recorded in one account on Aug. 15 of this year that an 8-year-old, Jane, had a “new ‘friend’ [on Roblox, who] kept asking Jane where she lived and whether her parents were home. They encouraged Jane to keep secrets from her parents.”
“They began sending her graphic messages and sexually explicit images. And eventually, Jane’s “friend” convinced the eight-year-old girl to reciprocate, sending sexual images in return… Jane is only one of countless children who have been sexually exploited due to Roblox’s negligence,” NCOSE wrote.
On Sept. 17, two California lawsuits were filed against Roblox and Discord on behalf of two teens from separate counties.
The first lawsuit alleges that a girl was as young as 13 when she met 20-year-old Joseph Randall of Baton Rouge on Roblox in 2022. They conversed on Roblox before moving to the app, Discord, where Randall sent her nude images and coerced her into doing the same. He also sent her CSAM and coerced her into self-harm, WRAL News reported Tuesday.
“You have an adult predator that was on there who was pretending to be a kid who had a pattern and a practice of using voice-altering technology to pretend to be a kid,” said Martin Gould, the teen’s attorney.
In the second lawsuit, a teen encountered an adult pretending to be a child, who groomed her. The person convinced the child into sending explicit images in exchange for Roblox currency.
The teen became withdrawn after her exploitation and needed therapy to cope with the severe trauma.
“This case against Roblox and Discord is a terrifying reminder of the world we live in where capitalist greed far outweighs humanity,” said Matthew Dolman, Principal of Dolman Law Group. “There have never been sufficient safety measures and protocols in place, and children are suffering unimaginably. With Robux, Roblox gives evil individuals another literal bargaining chip to play out their unthinkable fantasies with impressionable children.”
These accounts contrast what the Roblox exec said — that harmful events happened five years ago. This feels closer to yesterday.
Read Next: Roblox Isn’t Safe for Your Kids. In Fact, It’s a ‘Pedophile Hellscape’
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