A lawsuit filed this week in San Francisco alleges that Roblox enabled the financial and sexual exploitation of a 13-year-old girl, Reuters reported Wednesday. The lawsuit also target Discord, Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc, and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms.
The lawsuit claims that the alleged victim began playing Roblox when she was nine or 10 years old. In early 2020, she met several adult men on the platform. They began communicating over Roblox, Discord, Snapchat and Instagram. The men encouraged her to drink and abuse prescription drugs, then asked her to send sexually explicit photos of herself, per the suit. One man allegedly convinced her to send him money.
The girl is said to have suffered from severe mental health problems as a result of the exploitation, leading to suicide attempts and hospitalization.
The suit accuses the platforms in question of failing to take adequate steps to keep minors on their platforms safe, and seeks unspecified damages.
Discord, Snapchat and Instagram all require users to be at least 13 years of age, but do not verify the age of new users during sign up or require parental consent.
A Discord spokesperson said the platform has a "zero-tolerance policy for anyone who endangers or sexualizes children," but did not comment on the lawsuit directly. Snap and Meta declined to comment on the case, and Roblox has yet to comment.
This article was originally published on dbltap as Roblox Accused of Enabling Sexual Exploitation in Lawsuit.
