FTC urged to investigate Roblox for allegedly exposing kids to sex predators, misleading public about safety | Latest Tech News
Two major online safety teams are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Roblox – claiming that the wildly common video sport platform is permitting sex predators to “groom” kids, among other dangerous alleged actions.
Fairplay and the National Center for Online intimacyual Exploitation (NCOSE) said Wednesday that Roblox’s voice and textual content chat options “are a source of substantial harm to children, facilitating predation and abuse by enabling adult contact with minors.”
In one stunning incident, a take a look at account created by NCOSE researchers in October and registered to a 5-year-old was “immediately” granted access to “dating, romance and … voice chat experiences where the user could be connected to strangers online.”
Two online safety teams say Roblox is violating federal law. AlexPhotoStock – stock.adobe.com
“Roblox’s design and business model put the company’s pursuits straight at odds with youngsters’s developmental wants, inflicting them real-world hurt,“ the teams wrote in an 87-page submission to the FTC, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
As not too long ago as February, Fairplay researchers testing under-13 accounts “witnessed the use of inappropriate references and racial slurs within minutes of entering an experience called ‘ChatSim,” which explicitly advertises in its thumbnail that gamers can ‘chat without restrictions,’” the report said.
According to the report, take a look at accounts encountered customers who made references to male genitalia and masturbation. The take a look at accounts had been also in a position to chat with strangers after receiving “connection requests,” though Fairplay said follow-up testing confirmed that “loophole may now be closed.”
The creepy encounters are just one space of concern. The teams also allege that Roblox makes use of a “complex virtual currency system” called Robux that manipulates kids into spending enormous sums of their mother and father’ money without their data. Roblox is also called out for allegedly utilizing addictive and gambling-like design options like loot bins and wheel-spins to get kids hooked.
In their “request for investigation,” or RFI submitting, the safety advocates recommend Roblox may very well be violating Section 5 of the FTC Act by unfairly advertising digital currencies to kids, unfairly utilizing addictive design options and making misleading claims about the safety and appropriateness of its platform for minors.
Fairplay said its take a look at accounts had been uncovered to vulgar and inappropriately specific chats. Fairplay / NCOSE
The Post has reached out for remark to the FTC, whose chairman is Andrew Ferguson.
A Roblox spokesperson said the company “strongly disputes these claims.”
“Our platform is designed to provide a positive, healthy and enjoyable experience — we build for fun and connection, not short-term engagement,” the spokesperson said. “While no system can be perfect, we have a set of safeguards designed to support a safe and civil environment, and clear policies for game creators that require fair treatment of players.”
The safety teams’ report highlighted a number of news articles describing incidents in which perverts allegedly used Roblox to goal kids.
The circumstances embody a wrongful death lawsuit filed in September 2025 by the mom of an autistic teenager who died by suicide after falling sufferer to a “sextortion” plot by somebody who made contact with him on Roblox. The company beforehand expressed its condolences while declining to remark on the specifics of the swimsuit.
“While Roblox has made recent attempts to age gate certain voice and text chat capabilities, these measures contain significant loopholes,” the submitting said. “We urge the FTC to investigate and to protect millions of children across the country who use Roblox.”
Safety teams say Roblox makes use of gambling-like options to get kids to spend their mother and father’ money. Fairplay / NCOSE
Roblox, led by CEO David Baszucki, has surged to large reputation among youngsters in current years. As of January, the company estimated that 35% of its 144 million daily customers was under age 13 and another 38% had been between 13 and 17. The video sport platform expects to earn as a lot as $7.6 billion in fiscal 2026.
That reputation has come with elevated scrutiny from lawmakers and safety advocates — and more than 140 pending lawsuits in federal courts around the nation accusing the company of facilitating little one inappropriate exploitation, according to GWN.
Roblox not too long ago rolled out age-based accounts — one for customers 5 to 8, and another for 9- to 15-year-olds — with launch anticipated in June. The company has also boosted parental controls on the platform and earlier this 12 months started requiring customers to submit to an “age check” to guarantee correct safeguards are in place.
Roblox is accused of exploiting kids to increase income. Fairplay / NCOSE
Fairplay and NCOSE allege that it still straightforward to bypass restrictions – in half because ones set up by Roblox don’t apply to chat instruments constructed by third-party builders that are energetic on the platform.
“Despite Roblox’s policy statements and assurances, communicating with child users on Roblox is easy, leaving them vulnerable to harmful contacts and attempts to lure them onto other platforms,” the teams said.
Elsewhere, the prolonged report rips Roblox for utilizing “scarcity marketing” to push kids into spending money on dear costumes and objects for their digital avatars, often within time-limited home windows that urge gamers to buy or lose out for good.
David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox, participates in a dialogue at the Semafor World Economy 2026 summit on April 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. Getty Images
The outcome, according to Fairplay and NCOSE, is that Roblox is aiming to “capitalize on younger customers’ developmental vulnerabilities, exploit their need for genuine self-expression, monetize their lack of impulse control, and flip in-game buying energy into a type of social standing.
“Parents have described incurring hundreds and thousands of dollars in unexpected Roblox charges when their children have figured out how to buy Robux,” the report said. “Online forums are rife with similar stories.”
The Roblox spokesperson said most video games on the platform are free to play, with less than 2% of its daily customers making funds.
“In addition, we have clear policies prohibiting both actual and simulated gambling, and a set of rules governing how game creators can use gameplay mechanics like paid random items,” the spokesperson added.
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