In a landscape of cute dress-up games, adopting animals, and interacting with users around the globe, Roblox’s user-friendly website isn’t exactly child-friendly, according to a recent criminal subpoena by Attorney General James Uthmeier on Oct. 20.
Florida officials have condemned the popular gaming website as a playground for online child predators to target innocent minors, manipulating them with the promise of Robux — the platform’s currency for purchasing special passes — and avatar customization. Uthmeier took to FOX’s early morning show, Fox & Friends First, to slam the platform’s way of handling the information and safety of thousands of children.
“They know child predators are using the app to go after our kids, and they haven’t done enough about it.”
Attorney General James Uthmeier on Fox & Friends First about Roblox
Roblox responded to Uthmeier’s concerns, reassuring him, as well as the general public, that they have always been cooperative with law enforcement. The company also affirmed the platform’s highly filtered texts, which eliminate the sharing of personal information and prohibit the exchange of photos and videos to protect users’ privacy and safety. Uthmeier responded by saying that their efforts weren’t enough, especially since various pieces of evidence have been brought forth over the years, highlighting Roblox’s ineffective content moderation.
Yet, while Roblox continues to deny its negligence, there have been multiple instances of child predators lurking on one of the many private servers hosted on Roblox’s website, “Amongst Us.” Italo Bonini, a former music teacher at Hunters Creek Middle School, was arrested on federal charges for possessing explicit images of children and enticing minors, according to FOX 35. It is alleged that he had met two young boys, aged 5 and 8, on Discord and bribed them with Robux in exchange for inappropriate pictures of themselves. FBI agents suspect that Bonini might have had more than 20 victims from his predatory tactics, confessing that he liked the “control aspect of the chat,” according to News 6.
As of late, more victims are coming forward, each with their own horror story of the people they’ve met on the children’s platform. In Brevard County, Attorney Pat Huyett is representing a 16-year-old girl who met one of her abusers on Roblox and was then manipulated into switching the conversation to Discord, where she sent explicit images of herself to not just one, but multiple child predators lurking on the platform.
Roblox’s defense to these cases has not been the best for their circumstances. They told the public that “no system is perfect,” in response to the content moderation failing to thoroughly protect children. The corporation, however, is not as innocent as it’d like to appear.
Just months ago, Roblox banned Schlep, a YouTuber who NBC Chicago says “worked to expose predators on the Roblox platform after himself being the victim of a developer who allegedly groomed him for years,” for endangering and baiting players into arrest. Before being booted out of the site, Schlep managed to contact the legal authorities and arrest six child predators from the site. Yet, instead of deleting the accounts of the arrested individuals, Roblox decided to send Schlep cease and desist letters, along with a statement that read, “taking the law into your hands isn’t safe in the real world, and it’s not safe online.” Following his ban, multiple petitions arose, asking for Schlep’s return to Roblox, but the company remained firm in its decision.
A Chicago-based law firm reported that it had 500 clients with stories of being victims of child predators on Roblox. One of these victims was a 13-year-old girl who was groomed and later kidnapped by a 37-year-old man. Families of the victims believe that the corporation chooses to protect the predators instead of the victims for profit, endangering children in the process.
As the current feud between Uthmeier and Roblox unfolds, it’s clear that the platform’s impact extends beyond the state of Florida. Roblox’s time for a proper defense is ticking away, and in due course, they may face further legal repercussions. This is far more than just child’s play, figuratively and literally.