Los Angeles County is suing the popular online gaming platform Roblox for exposing underage users to “sexually explicit content, exploitation and grooming”

Los Angeles County is suing the popular online gaming platform Roblox for failing to protect users from online predators, according to the lawsuit the county filed Feb. 19. According to the complaint, Roblox “makes children easy prey for pedophiles” and “failed to implement reasonable and readily available safety measures.”

The county is claiming Roblox has prioritized profits over the safety of users as the website has repeatedly exposed it’s underaged users to “sexually explicit content, exploitation and grooming.”

“Roblox has a responsibility to keep kids safe, but instead it has allowed its platform to become a place where children can be exposed to grooming and exploitation,” said Hilda L. Solis, LA County Board Chair and First District Supervisor, according to KTLA. “Los Angeles County is taking action to hold the company accountable and demand real safeguards.”

Roblox has roughly 151 million daily active users, with 40% of users under the age of 13. Additionally, around 75% of children between the ages of 9 and 12 use the platform daily.

The county is seeking “injunctive relief, abatement and civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation per day,” according to NBC LA.

This past December, two different Southern California families sued Roblox after their child was targeted by a predator on the platform. One of the lawsuits comes from a Southern California family after their daughter befriended a predator on Roblox who pretended to be a 15-year old girl. The predator went on to share explicit messages and images with the child on Discord and tried to get her to come to the apartment in Fullerton.

The other lawsuit was when a Riverside family sued the city after a man lured and eventually sexually assaulted their 12-year-old daughter, whom he met over Roblox.

“This is not about a minor lapse in safety,” LA County Counsel Dawyn R. Harrison said, according to KTLA. “It is about a company that gives pedophiles powerful tools to prey on innocent and unsuspecting children. The trauma that results is horrific, from grooming to exploitation to actual assault. This needs to stop.”

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Roblox has not yet responded to requests for comment.