Roblox, a widely used online game platform popular with children and teens worldwide, has been the subject of increasing legal and safety concerns related to child grooming, sexual exploitation, and psychological harm of minors. Multiple lawsuits and individual incidents allege that children encounter predators posing as peers, with some cases leading to distressing outcomes.
The platform, which allows users to interact, play games, and communicate within a virtual world, has hundreds of millions of active users, many of whom are minors. Critics and some legal complaints claim that the platform’s design, privacy features, and communication tools, allow predators to contact and groom vulnerable users, then shift conversations to other apps with fewer safeguards.
Predators allegedly persuaded minors to meet offline or manipulated them using incentives like virtual currency (“Robux”), from the game.
In Snohomish County, Washington, a lawsuit filed by Dolman Law Group accuses Roblox Corporation of negligence for allegedly enabling a predator to groom a 12-year-old girl, identified only as Jane Doe in legal filings. According to the complaint, the child was approached by someone posing as a peer inside the game, then groomed and threatened to send sexually explicit messages and photos. The predator allegedly pressured her into sending explicit content and continued coercion over time, which led to multiple suicide attempts over time. The lawsuit argues that Roblox’s safety measures were insufficient to protect the child and that the company misrepresented its ability to keep users safe.
Among several reported incidents, a deeply tragic case described in The New York Post involves Penelope Sokolowski, a 16-year-old, whose father, Jason Sokolowski, believes her suicide was connected to a grooming process that began on Roblox. According to the report, Penelope was in contact with a predator she met on the platform who allegedly moved communication to Discord, a separate messaging app, where coercive interactions continued over a period of years.
Penelope reportedly shared with her father that she had been recruited into a harmful online group, nicknamed “764,” which the FBI has described as a violent online network targeting minors and encouraging self-harm and violent actions. Messages and images found on her phone appeared to show self-harm and coercion into dangerous acts. Penelope died by suicide not long after her 16th birthday.
This case has been referenced in the context of consolidated lawsuits against Roblox and other platforms, alleging systemic safety failures and incomplete protections against predator behavior.
Beyond these individual cases, numerous lawsuits have been filed against Roblox by families across the United States, alleging that children were contacted, groomed, coerced, or exploited after initial contact on the platform. These cases include claims that predators used Roblox’s communication systems to initiate contact, then shifted interactions to apps such as Discord and Snapchat, which plaintiffs say had fewer safeguards.
State authorities have also taken action. For example, the Texas Attorney General sued Roblox, characterising the platform as a “digital playground for predators” and alleging that the company put profits ahead of children’s safety by failing to enforce age verification and protective measures.
In response to growing scrutiny, Roblox Corporation has stated that it continually updates safety systems and restrictions to protect minors. Reported changes include AI-based age estimation, communication filters, age-based chat segregation, and limits on direct contact between adults and under-16 users. The company also emphasises efforts such as moderation tools and parental controls designed to mitigate inappropriate communication and content.
Despite these updates, critics and some legal filings argue that current protections remain insufficient to prevent adult predatory behavior in practice, pointing to ongoing lawsuits and reported cases as evidence of persistent vulnerabilities.
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