Nebraska Becomes Latest State to Sue Roblox Over Alleged Child Safety Failures

Photo: Nebraska AG, Mike Hilgers by Matt Johnson; via Wikipedia.

Earlier this month, Nebraska became the latest state to take legal action against Roblox, accusing the enormously popular gaming platform of putting children at risk while overstating how safe the platform really is, NBC News reported.

The lawsuit adds to a growing wave of scrutiny from state attorneys general, counties, and families who allege that Roblox has allowed adult predators to target minors through its platform.

Filed by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers in Adams District Court, the complaint alleges that sexual predators have repeatedly used Roblox to groom children and, in some cases, later abduct and sexually assault them. The lawsuit argues that Roblox built a massive youth user base while failing to adequately prevent dangerous interactions between minors and adults.

Since launching in 2006, Roblox has grown into far more than a gaming website. It now functions as a sprawling social platform filled with user-created experiences, many of which include real-time interaction. Roblox says it has more than 151 million daily active users, and in its latest shareholder materials described itself as “the largest dedicated gaming platform for users aged 13 and under.” That scale is part of what makes the latest allegations so significant.

Nebraska’s complaint does not hold back.

“For years, Roblox has known that it has a pedophile problem,” the lawsuit says. “It built an extremely popular interactive gaming and social media platform by doing what other social media companies would not: marketing to and accepting pre-teenage users. As a result, Roblox became, in its own words, the ‘#1 gaming site for kids and teens.’”

Roblox has denied the allegations and says the Nebraska lawsuit misrepresents how the platform works. Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, said in an email that Roblox “is built with safety at its core, and we strengthen our protections every day.”

“While we share Attorney General Hilgers’ commitment to keeping kids and teens safe online, we are disappointed that he has filed a lawsuit that fundamentally misrepresents how Roblox works,” Kaufman wrote.

According to Roblox, the company prohibits users from sharing images and videos directly, uses filters designed to stop users from sharing personal information, and applies age-based settings that limit chat functions for younger users. Roblox also says it works with law enforcement to support investigations and hold offenders accountable.

The company has rolled out additional safety measures in recent years. This year, Roblox began requiring facial age checks through the third-party identity verification company Persona for users who want to access certain chat features. It also introduced broader parental controls in late 2024, allowing parents to block certain games or users, adjust chat permissions, and set limits on screen time and spending. Roblox says children under 13 are automatically blocked from direct messaging unless parents enable certain functions, and children under 9 are automatically blocked from in-game chats.

Still, Nebraska’s lawsuit argues those measures do not fix the core problem.

“Even with parental oversight settings enabled, parents continue to lack visibility as to who their child is messaging and what the messages say, leaving unaddressed Roblox’s fundamental deficiency that facilitates grooming and predation on children—adult access to and communication with children,” the complaint states.

Nebraska Joins a Growing List of States

Nebraska is not alone. Other states that have sued Roblox over child safety issues include Louisiana, Kentucky, Texas, Florida, Iowa, and Tennessee. Los Angeles County also filed its own lawsuit, similarly alleging that Roblox failed to protect children from predators and age-inappropriate content.

Beyond those government actions, Roblox is facing a large and growing body of civil litigation from families across the country. More than 130 lawsuits have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Those cases include allegations that children were groomed on Roblox, sexually assaulted after being lured off the platform, or suffered severe harm after online exploitation. Some of the lawsuits involve children who later died by suicide.

How Predators Allegedly Used the Platform

A central allegation across many of the lawsuits is that Roblox served as the starting point for contact, even when abuse later moved elsewhere. Multiple complaints say predators used Roblox to identify and communicate with children before directing them to Discord, where messaging could continue with fewer restrictions. Several lawsuits name Discord as a defendant alongside Roblox.

The platform has also been criticized for struggling to control inappropriate user-created games. Lawsuits have pointed to sexually themed “condo” games and other allegedly disturbing experiences that surfaced on Roblox despite the company’s stated rules against such content. Among the titles cited in litigation are “Escape to Epstein Island,” “Diddy Party” and “Public Bathroom Simulator Vibe,” which allegedly allowed users to simulate sexual activity in virtual spaces.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma and South Carolina have launched investigations that could eventually lead to additional lawsuits.

Families Push Back Against Private Arbitration

Another major front in the Roblox litigation involves where these cases should be heard.

Last month, more than 800 parents from 48 states signed an open letter urging the boards of Roblox and Discord to stop trying to force claims into private arbitration rather than open court. Families and their attorneys argue that confidential arbitration shields companies from public accountability in cases involving child exploitation and online grooming.

“Secret arbitration only protects corporations, not kids,” Pat Huyett, a partner at Anapol Weiss, said in a statement. “Families want their cases to be heard in court so issues can be addressed openly in order to prevent this from happening to more children.”

That issue recently took on added importance when a California court allowed one case involving “the grooming, kidnapping, and sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl” to proceed in open court rather than confidential arbitration. The ruling could influence how courts handle arbitration clauses in cases involving minors.

The Nebraska lawsuit adds more pressure to a platform that has become a daily part of life for millions of children. The legal fight is no longer just about isolated incidents. It is increasingly about whether Roblox designed and maintained a system that gave predators too much access to minors while presenting parents with a false sense of security.

None of the major Roblox lawsuits have gone to trial yet. But together, they could shape how courts treat platform liability, child safety obligations, and the limits of Section 230 protections in cases involving online grooming and sexual exploitation.