WALKER, La. - Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Thursday she has sued popular online gaming platform Roblox, alleging the company facilitates child sexual exploitation and fails to protect young users from predators.
The lawsuit, filed in Louisiana's 21st Judicial District Court, marks the first state-level legal action against Roblox despite widespread concerns about child safety on the platform used by millions of children and teens.
"Roblox has and continues to facilitate the distribution of child sexual abuse material and the sexual exploitation of Louisiana's children," Murrill said during a press conference at the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Training Center in Walker. "This game is deceptive by design."
Roblox, launched in 2006, has nearly 83 million daily active users and more than 6.4 million "experiences" within its gaming ecosystem. According to the company's own data, 56% of users are under age 17, with 40% under age 12.
The platform allows users to communicate in real time through direct messaging and voice chat functions, creating what Murrill described as an environment where "child sex predators thrive, unite, hunt and victimize kids."
"There should be no mechanism for children to chat with strangers," Murrill said. "They shouldn't be on this app at all, because there is no age minimum requirement to verify age or parental permissions."
The lawsuit details numerous inappropriate "experiences" available on the platform, including sex simulation games, virtual strip clubs, and what are called "condo games" where avatars can remove clothing and engage in simulated sexual activity.
Screenshots showed games with names like "Escape to Epstein Island" and "Public Bathroom Simulator," some marked as appropriate for children as young as nine years old.
"One mother of a seven-year-old girl reported that her seven-year-old daughter was virtually raped," Murrill said. "Her comment was, 'I never thought I would have to explain to my seven-year-old daughter what rape is.'"
Sheriff Jason Ard of Livingston Parish described a recent search warrant execution where investigators found a suspect "posing as a 14-year-old girl" on Roblox while at his residence for an unrelated child pornography investigation.
East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux detailed a case from early this year where a man accused of sex crimes against a minor first made contact through Roblox before moving the conversation to Discord.
"This case is a powerful example of how online predators are using popular games and apps to gain access to our children," Gautreaux said.
Lieutenant Allison Garoppolo described another investigation involving a 20-year-old Baton Rouge man who targeted juveniles in multiple states, including soliciting explicit images from a 14-year-old and exploiting a 15-year-old for money.
David Ferris from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation highlighted the platform's insufficient reporting mechanisms. While Roblox boasts 380 million monthly active users, the company only submitted 24,522 reports of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the past year.
By comparison, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Snapchat collectively average 3.5 million reports annually.
"Roblox has only 3,000 moderators on a platform that has tens of millions of users every single day," Murrill said. "TikTok, by comparison, has 40,000 moderators."
The platform didn't begin reporting child exploitation incidents until 2019—13 years after its launch. Despite Louisiana having an estimated 50% of children using Roblox monthly, reports from the platform make up less than 1% of cases received by Louisiana's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes over 50 sheriff and police departments, handled approximately 13,644 cases last year and expects to reach 18,000 this year—nearly doubling annually.
"The number of tips that come in now compared to the number of tips that we used to get about 10 years ago is stunning," Murrill said. "The numbers have gone up exponentially."
The lawsuit alleges Roblox violates Louisiana's Unfair Trade Practices Act by making false safety representations and failing to implement basic protections. The state seeks permanent injunctive relief, restitution, attorney's fees, and civil penalties.
Murrill said the company has made "multiple misrepresentations," including claims that "kids of all ages can safely interact" and that "safety is in our DNA."
"That's flatly false," she said.
While Murrill said she believes "Roblox should be shut down," the lawsuit seeks to force the company to implement stronger safety controls, including robust age verification, improved parental controls, and better content moderation.
The attorney general argued that Roblox prioritizes engagement and profits over child safety, noting that the company's stock (RBLX) has more than doubled this year and advanced over 115% year-to-date.
"If they were to limit the kids or the kids' interaction on this site, it would lower their user engagement numbers that would affect their profit margins," Murrill said. "So they've chosen profits over child safety."
The case highlights growing concerns about children's online safety as digital platforms become primary spaces for youth socialization and entertainment, with law enforcement struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving threats.
