Legal troubles mount for Roblox, Discord

And in the couple months since, Pat Huyett, attorney at Anapol Weiss, a law firm working on the case, said more investigations and cases are coming to light about the widespread predatory behavior and lack of guardrails.

“In general, it’s safe to say there are thousands of these cases out there. Our firm has been investigating hundreds of potential cases against Roblox and Discord. The number of these cases is staggering,” Huyett said.

Earlier this month, it was reported that a 10-year-old from Kern County was kidnapped by a 22-year-old man after meeting and communicating on both platforms.

Anapol Weiss recently filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against both companies on behalf of a Florida minor who allegedly experienced sexual exploitation on the sites.

Some states are also going after the two firms. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General is suing Discord for alleged misrepresentation ineffectiveness of its parental controls, and the Florida attorney general recently issued a subpoena to Roblox, requesting internal documents related to child safety and content moderation practices.

Social platforms like Roblox and Discord — as well as other social media giants — have long used Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally shields online platforms from content published by users, as long as they didn’t create or explicitly endorse it. But Huyett said their perceived immunity is starting to crack, as more cases progress and state legislators and prosecutors demand stronger protections. Snapchat was also the target of the Florida attorney general over child safety concerns. And in California, an increasing number of claims have been filed against firms like Meta and Snapchat over their addictive nature, lack of parental controls and sexually exploitative platforms — though some claims were recently dismissed by a federal judge.

“Broadly speaking, plaintiffs have been getting traction in seeking to hold online platforms for the harm they are causing to children,” he said.”

In the San Mateo County case filed earlier this year, Huyett added that Roblox is attempting to move the case to confidential arbitration, so as to shield further details to the public.

“Forcing cases into arbitration is their go-to maneuver, but we think it’s particularly egregious like this involving children who have been sexually exploited,” he said.

Roblox representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

alyse@smdailyjournal.com

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