The wildly popular online game Roblox is facing a new criminal investigation in Florida, where the state’s attorney general accused the platform of being a “breeding ground for child predators.”
Roblox has failed to properly protect kids from sexual predators and is not making enough effort to verify user ages, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Monday, citing a civil probe from April.
“Roblox is a breeding ground for child predators to get on the platform, solicit information, locations, and ultimately abuse kids. That’s a non-starter here in Florida,” the prosecutor told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
“We will go after child predators with everything we’ve got, and we’re gonna hold Roblox accountable. We believe that they have knowingly allowed their platform to be used in this way.”
Roblox did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
About 40 million players — more than a third of Roblox’s user base — are under age 13.
While the world-building video game is aimed at children, with users as young as 8 or 9, it also caters to adults — who can use the private chat and voice conversation features to speak with child players.
Several previous investigations have uncovered predators for using Roblox to groom minors. Adults have been able to imitate children on the platform, and content moderation efforts have failed to detect sexually explicit material, according to the Florida attorney general’s office.
Roblox insists it is safe for young users.
In July, it launched a face-scanning feature to help verify users’ ages. But it can be circumvented by playing on another person’s account, according to safety experts.
Some predators have even used the platform’s in-game currency – known as “Robux” – to bribe minors into sending sexually explicit images of themselves, Uthmeier’s office said.
Louisiana’s Attorney General Liz Murrill sued Roblox in August – calling it “the perfect place for pedophiles.”
Last month, the mother of a 15-year-old autistic boy who killed himself sued Roblox for wrongful death, alleging the app’s lack of guardrails allowed her son to be sexually coerced by an adult predator into sending explicit photos.
More than 20 lawsuits accusing Roblox of enabling sexual exploitation have been filed in federal courts so far this year, according to the New York Times.
Uthmeier said more than 1,000 child predators have been arrested in Florida just so far this year – and many of those investigations have been traced back to Roblox.
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