ORLANDO, Fla. – Allegations of child exploitation and grooming on Roblox have sparked legal action and a criminal investigation in Florida.
On Monday, the state announced it is targeting the popular online game Roblox, accusing the company of failing to adequately protect children from predators.
Roblox is an online gaming platform where users create a character and play in different games and experiences.
Florida Launches Criminal Investigation
“Platforms like Roblox have becoming breeding grounds for predators to gain access to our kids,” said Florida Attorney General Uthmeier in a statement.
His office has issued criminal subpoenas to Roblox, requesting the following:
All documents sufficient to show, describe, or explain the requirements, processes, and criteria for creating new user accounts on the platform, including but not limited to age and identity verification procedures, consent mechanisms for minors, terms of service and user agreements in effect during the relevant time period, any parental or guardian authorization procedures, and any automated or manual review processes used to validate new account registrations
All documents sufficient to identify and describe every child account registered on the platform indicative of the account holder being in Florida, including the user’s age range, the date of account creation, and any other accounts linked to the same user or household, IP address used to create the account, geographic location of the account and whether the account is currently active
All exemplars, drafts and final versions of marketing, promotional or advertising materials whether digital, print, audiovisual, or otherwise that reference, depict or concern the platform’s suitability, safety, or appropriateness for minors or child users, including representations made to parents, guardians, or the public regarding age-appropriate content or parental controls
All documents relating to the marketing of the platform to children, including internal planning documents, reports, or analyses involving promotions, giveaways, social media campaigns, celebrity or influencer endorsements, partnerships, use of cartoon imagery, music or color schemes designed to appeal to children, as well as data-driven marketing practices involving surveillance, targeting or behavioral personalization directed toward minors
All documents reflecting the policies, procedures, and technical safeguards implemented to prevent children from being exposed to mature, explicit or otherwise age-inappropriate content on the platform
All documents supporting any statements, representations, or claims made in marketing or public-facing materials that suggest or imply the platform is “safe for all ages,” “child friendly,” or otherwise suitable for children
All documents sufficient to describe the parental control features available on the platform, including their operation, scope, limitations, and methods by which minors may circumvent or disable such features
All documents sufficient to describe the design, operation and functionality of chat moderation, content moderation, and reporting systems on the platform, including human and automated review processes
All documents sufficient to identify employees or contractors responsible for developing, implementing, or enforcing age verification, content moderation and child safety protocols, including names, job titles, employment dates, and supervisory reporting structure
All documents sufficient to describe the categories of personal information collected, stored or processed about minors using the platform, including the purposes for which such data is used
All documents sufficient to describe moderation procedures, enforcement protocols, and safety guardrails used to detect, prevent, or remove inappropriate or harmful content or users
All documents sufficient to identify any pending or concluding litigation, administrative action, or regulatory proceeding since January 2021 relating to the safety of minors or child protection issues involving the platform or any account user located in the State of Florida
A list identifying each report submitted through the platform’s reporting mechanisms or other internal systems by a user or parent alleging abuse, exploitation, grooming, endangerment, or other child safety violations
A list identifying each report submitted through the platform’s reporting mechanisms or other internal systems by a user or parent alleging abuse, exploitation, grooming, endangerment, or other child safety violations occurring on or through your platform in which either the user or the alleged offender was located in Florida
A list identifying each instance in which a user or parent alleged abuse, exploitation, grooming, endangerment, or other child safety violations and submitted written or verbal notice to Roblox Corporation, the platform or any of its employees, agents or automated systems in which the notice was then submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
A list identifying each instance in which a user or parent alleged abuse, exploitation, grooming, endangerment, or other child safety violations and submitted written or verbal notice to Roblox Corporation, the platform or any of its employees, agents or automated systems and in which the notice was then submitted to the Florida Abuse Hotline (Department of Children and Families)
A list identifying each instance in which a a user or parent alleged abuse, exploitation, grooming, endangerment, or other child safety violations and submitted notice to Roblox Corporation, the platform or any of its employees, agents or automated systems and in which the notice was then submitted to the National Human Trafficking Hotline
A list identifying each instance in which a user or parent alleged abuse, exploitation, grooming, endangerment or other child safety violations and submitted notice to Roblox Corporation, the platform or any of its employees, agents or automated systems and in which the notice was then submitted to the Florida Human Trafficking Hotline
Documents reflecting the total number of accounts, broken down by month, that Roblox has removed from the platform from January 2021, until September 2025, due to child safety issues
Documents sufficient to show parental control options relating to creating new user accounts on the platform
Documents sufficient to describe the chat and game moderation capabilities
Documents sufficient to identify employees who were responsible for creating and enforcing age verification protocols
Florida’s Attorney General said if Roblox is not willing to work with the state on safety improvements, he will take the company to court.
Lawsuits Filed on Behalf of Central Florida Children
“Last year, a key metric for Roblox is daily active users,” said Pat Huyett, attorney. “I believe for last year, they reported 80 some million daily active users, and more than half of those were children, were minors.”
Huyett and his Philadelphia-based law firm have been investigating hundreds of cases against Roblox. He is now representing a 16-year-old girl from Brevard County who said she was groomed and sexually exploited for several years on the platform.
“Her life just dramatically changed to the point where it’s hard for her to even function anymore,” Huyett told News 6.
A separate lawsuit was filed on behalf of an 11-year-old in Brevard County. According to the lawsuit, a man posed as a young boy on Roblox, gained the child’s trust, then manipulated her into sending explicit images of herself. In return, the lawsuit claims, the man would give the child Robux, a virtual currency used to buy special outfits and abilities for user’s characters.
“Anyone can create an account on Roblox and pretend to be whoever they want to be,” Huyett told News 6.
Huyett said Roblox needs to verify people’s age when they sign up and screen users in case they are a registered sex offender or have prior convictions of child abuse. He also stated the platform needs to warn parents about the risk, “Roblox says publicly that its platform is one of the safest online environments for children. That’s how parents get lured into this false sense of security.”
Investigating Reports of Child Exploitation
Under law, technology companies are required to report suspected child exploitation on their platform to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyperTipline. The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigates these tips. There are dozens of task forces across the United States, including one within the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
The unit within the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office investigates tips about allegations reported in Central Florida. According to the sheriff’s office, Roblox is one of the top 10 companies that have submitted tips in Central Florida, with more than 800 tips reported since Jan. 1, 2025.
In a statement, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office told News 6, “Roblox is a company that frequently reports potential child exploitation activity to law enforcement and complies with legal process requests. We have received several CyperTips locally, which many have not been actionable due to lack of enough information of both parties, victim/suspect age or criminal exchange in nature. We do not have enough information to say they (Roblox) are negligent at reporting or failing to protect children.”
This graph, provided by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, shows the top Electronic Service Provider reporters in Central Florida from January 1, 2025 to present (October 2025). (Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)Protecting Children
In August, Roblox launched an open-source version of an artificial intelligence system that it said can help detect predatory language in game chats. The system, called Sentinel, helps detect early signs of possible endangerment. Roblox reported in August, the system had led the company to submit 1,200 reports of potential attempts at child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the first half of 2025.
Huyett says it is not enough, “We’ve talked to numerous parents who have said to me, look, I got an email, my kid got kicked off Roblox and I got a message from Roblox saying that he was using bad language, you know while he was playing in a game so they suspended him for a couple of days. Meanwhile, he’s being bombarded by these predators who are saying all sorts of horrible things, and I never once was made aware of that.”
Huyett urged parents to talk to their children about the risks of Roblox and monitor what they are doing online.
“There are other apps that parents can use, like this app called the Bark app, which is one that helps parents monitor their children’s use of apps like Roblox,” Huyett told News 6.
Roblox Responds
News 6 asked Roblox for its response to the lawsuits, as well as whether it has plans to update its security features. We received this statement:
“We share Attorney General Uthmeier’s commitment to keeping kids safe and we will continue to assist his office in their investigations. We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and investing in advanced safety systems to help protect our users and remove bad actors. To safeguard users, we prohibit the sharing of images and videos in chat, use filters designed to block the exchange of personal information, and are working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features. While no system is perfect, our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content. We are committed to leading the industry in safety and transparency.”
Roblox Spokesperson
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