Video gaming platform Roblox is facing more lawsuits from parents who allege the San Mateo, Calif., company isn\u2019t doing enough to safeguard children from sexual predators. <\/p>\n
A Los Angeles County mother, whose identity wasn\u2019t revealed in a November lawsuit, alleges that her daughter met a predator on Roblox who persuaded her child to send sexually explicit photos of herself over the social media platform Discord. The woman is suing both Roblox and the San Francisco company Discord.<\/p>\n
When her daughter signed up for the gaming platform last year at 12 years old, the woman thought Roblox was safe because it was marketed for children and as educational, according to the lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles County Superior Court. <\/p>\n
But then her daughter befriended a person on Roblox known as \u201cPrecious\u201d who claimed to be 15 years old and told her child that she had been abused at home and had no friends, the lawsuit said. Her daughter, accompanied by a friend\u2019s parents, met up with the Roblox user at a beach and the person appeared older and attempted to introduce her to a group of older men.<\/p>\n
After they met, the predator tried to persuade the girl to visit her apartment alone in Fullerton and tried to alienate her from her family. The child suffered from psychological trauma, depression and other emotional distress because of her experiences on Roblox and Discord, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit accuses Roblox and Discord of prioritizing profits over safety, creating a \u201cdigital\u201d and \u201creal-life nightmare\u201d for children. It also alleges the companies\u2019 failures are systematic and other children have also suffered harm from encountering predators on the platforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer innocence has been snatched from her and her life will never be the same,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n
Roblox said in a statement it\u2019s \u201cdeeply troubled by any incident that endangers any user\u201d and prioritizes online safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also understand that no system is perfect and that is why we are constantly working to further improve our safety tools and platform restrictions to ensure parents can trust us to help keep their children safe online, launching 145 new initiatives this year alone,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n
Discord said it\u2019s committed to safety and requires users to be at least 13 years old to use its platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe maintain strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation and grooming on our platform and also work with other technology companies and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit is the latest scrutiny facing Roblox, a platform popular among young people. More than 151 million people use it daily. Earlier this year, the platform faced a wave of lawsuits from people in various states who allege that predators are posing as kids on the platform and sexually exploiting children. <\/p>\n