A US teenager is suing Roblox and Discord for “severe injuries she suffered because of [the companies’] respective conduct in creating, designing, marketing, and distributing their mobile- and web-based applications.”
As reported by Polygon, the action – filed on April 21, 2025, by lawyers Anapol Weiss and Girard Sharp – alleges Roblox and Discord are “accountable for facilitating the sexual exploitation of Plaintiff, who was a minor at the time of the abuse and is now barely an adult.”
The anonymous girl said she was 12 when, with her father’s consent, she began using Roblox. However, her parents later discovered “a child predator” had groomed the girl into identify, groom, and coerce Plaintiff into sending sexually explicit images and videos of herself.”
“The heinous acts against Plaintiff were committed by a dangerous child predator whose actions were possible only because of the egregiously tortious conduct of Defendants,” court papers said.
“Soon after Plaintiff was sexually exploited as the result of Defendants’ defectively designed apps, she became severely depressed and introverted,” the lawyers claimed. “She refused to eat in the lunchroom, instead retreating to the quiet, isolated bathroom stalls. Her grades declined significantly, whereas they had previously been stellar. She had great friends and alienated herself from them.”
In all, the 18-year-old Floridian teenager is suing for fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, general negligence, failure to warn, unreasonable design, negligent undertaking, and strict liability in design defect and failure to warn.
In a statement to Polygon, Roblox said: “As a policy we cannot comment on pending litigation and will respond appropriately through the legal process. With that being said, Roblox is deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our community and protecting children is a top priority.
“We invest significant resources in advanced technology, including robust filters and human moderation teams, to detect and address inappropriate content and behavior and do not allow image sharing on our platform. We will continue to evolve our safety practices to promote a secure and positive experience for everyone on our platform.”
Roblox is reportedly part of an active investigation being conducted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As we reported in February, a response to a Freedom of Information request filed by Bloomberg revealed that the firm was included in an investigation.
However, the SEC could not share further details as it could cause “harm to the ongoing enforcement proceeding.”
Earlier this month, Roblox revealed it was updating its parental controls, adding three new features to improve child safety on the platform, including blocking other users, blocking games, and providing better insights for parents into what their children are playing.
