Roblox, the popular online gaming platform, is the target of a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles County seeking an injunction and civil penalties for allegations of false advertising, engaging in unfair competition and allowing "the systemic sexual exploitation and abuse of children across the United States."

The suit, which follows changes and additions Roblox has made to its platform, including adding mandatory age verification for some features, is part of a barrage of legal action against gaming and social media platforms and how they handle use by teens and young children. Los Angeles County is also the site of an ongoing trial involving Meta over social media addiction.

Roblox responded to the allegations, telling CNET, "We strongly dispute the claims in this lawsuit and will defend against it vigorously. Roblox is built with safety at its core, and we continue to evolve and strengthen our protections every day."

The company added that it has advanced safeguards to monitor content and communications. "Safety is a constant and consistent focus of our work," Roblox said. 

The company pointed to its Safety Center as a resource for parents.

Los Angeles County counsel Dawyn R. Harrison, who filed the suit, said she is not impressed with Roblox's efforts on child safety. 

"This is not about a minor lapse in safety. It is about a company that gives pedophiles powerful tools to prey on innocent and unsuspecting children," Harrison alleged in a release on Friday. "The trauma that results is horrific, from grooming to exploitation to actual assault. This needs to stop."

Roblox is one of the largest gaming platforms with about 151 million daily active users. The amount of time its players spend in its virtual worlds reportedly surpasses PlayStation Network and the PC gaming hub Steam combined.  

What's in the complaint

In addition to alleging that Roblox's protections against child predators are insufficient, the LA County suit also alleges that Roblox has marketed itself as a safe platform for younger players. Such marketing is "false, misleading and unlawful" due to the company's platform design choices, the suit alleges.

The suit points to Roblox's platform design as well as its safety architecture and monetization practices as ways the company also allegedly exposes minors to harm.

In great detail, the 82-page lawsuit filing points to years of allegations across articles, research and incidents involving specific games on the platform, including screenshots of inappropriate content for minors and social media posts.

Other companies have recently followed Roblox's lead in introducing age verification or estimation tools, including Discord and YouTube.

There's overlap between the allegations against Roblox and the lawsuits and investigations faced by social media companies, such as Meta and TikTok. Countries such as Australia have banned social media entirely for children (though Roblox is not included in Australia's ban).

A 'need to do better'

Complicating matters for Roblox and others adding age-estimating or age-verification software is that they affect adults in addition to teens and children on these platforms.

Mark Beare, a privacy expert and general manager of the Global Consumer Unit at Malwarebytes, a cybersecurity company that has been studying children's safety on social media, says these tools require people to submit personal data to more services. 

"The solution to an unsafe internet for children is not increased data collection of everyone," Beare says. "Perhaps more importantly, online age verification doesn't work. It will forever be a cat-and-mouse game that tries to outsmart children online."

Beare pointed out that the Los Angeles County filing also points to ways that these types of platforms can include content linked to fraud and identity theft, just one of the types of dangers young people might be exposed to

"Roblox and other platforms available to children need to do better," he says.