Popular Roblox game no fun for Georgia parents, elected officials
A growing number of lawsuits against the online gaming platform Roblox is forcing a national, and increasingly local, reckoning about how safe digital spaces really are for children.
With more than 144 million daily users globally, many of them under 13, Roblox has become one of the most influential platforms shaping childhood gaming today.
But behind its colorful, block-based worlds, lawsuits filed in Georgia and across the country allege the platform has failed to protect young users from exploitation, harmful content, and predatory behavior.
In Georgia, those concerns are no longer abstract.
Attorney General Chris Carr launched an investigation into Roblox in February following reports of child exploitation connected to the platform.
In a February case cited by the state, two Florida girls reported missing were recovered in Georgia after communicating with an adult they met on Roblox and SnapChat. The alleged kidnapper was arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interference with child custody in Martin County. He is currently jailed in Georgia.
Some lawsuits argue that Roblox’s moderation systems and parental controls create a false sense of security, while still allowing harmful interactions to occur.
The first Georgia cases were filed in April 2024 by Cobb County resident Nichelle Broussard and Rockdale County resident Deltrinisha Roberts, who alleged that their teenage children had developed addictions.
Broussard alleged her 14-year-old son was a straight-A student until he became addicted to video games intentionally designed by Roblox and other defendants to hook children and maximize profits. She said her son’s associated problems included “gamers rage,” poor grades, severe emotional distress and diminished social interactions. Broussard voluntarily dismissed her case in May 2025.
Roberts’ similar case was sent to arbitration by a federal judge in Atlanta. Roblox’s attorneys have argued in court documents Roberts’ case involves third-party content that was not created by the company.
In August 2025, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of a 10-year-old DeKalb County boy and his mother, alleging Roblox puts profit before safety and allows predators to target and abuse children. Roblox declined to comment about the case. In December, the case was transferred to a federal court in California, where it is grouped with more than 150 similar cases from around the country.
‘It nearly broke her’
In a separate situation, a Decatur parent thought Roblox was supposed to be harmless entertainment.
Instead, it became the gateway to a deeply harmful relationship that sent her child to the hospital twice.
The first time was when the girl, then 11, secretly met a 15-year-old on the platform. What began as a seemingly innocent interaction escalated into an emotionally-damaging dynamic that her mother says her child was not equipped to understand or manage.
“It spiraled in a way that we could not have anticipated,” said the mother, Sara, 41, who asked not to be fully identified because her child is a minor. “This wasn’t just kids talking. This was something much deeper, and much more harmful.” Through texting and talking, the 15-year-old convinced Sara’s child that she was unattractive, needed to physically change herself, and should commit suicide.
A platform under scrutiny
Legal claims provide a roadmap into how exploitation happens. The initial contact from predators begins in public game chats before moving to private messages or external platforms, where monitoring is limited.
The lawsuits are part of a broader legal push to hold tech companies accountable for child safety.
Roblox reported more than 13,000 incidents of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2023 alone, raising questions about whether safeguards were keeping pace with the platform’s growth.
It’s not just Roblox. Experts warn the risks extend beyond any one platform with more than 300 million children worldwide being victims of some form of online sexual exploitation each year, according to child safety advocates.
In February, Los Angeles County sued Roblox, accusing the company of “unfair and deceptive business practices that endanger and exploit children,” particularly through its monetization systems and design features.
In recent weeks, Roblox has reached agreements totaling roughly $35 million with the states of Alabama, Nevada and West Virginia. The agreements include Roblox’s commitment to implementing increased protections for young users.
Roblox’s attempts to improve safety
Roblox has denied claims that it fails to protect children, pushing back against what it calls “erroneous claims and misconceptions” about its platform and safety practices.
“We want every child to have a safe, positive experience on Roblox. To empower parents to customize the experience that is best for their children, we provide robust parental controls that allow families to set screen time and spending limits, block specific games or users, or turn off chat,” Elizabeth Milovidov, Roblox’s Head of Parental Advocacy, said in a written statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Roblox says it has made significant investments on platform safety, with over 145 safety features added since January 2025, such as facial age estimation verification. Roblox said it turns off chat features for those 9 and younger. Roblox also prohibits user-to-user image or video sharing.
‘This is not just play — it’s psychological immersion’
Dr. Ani Whitmore, a developmental psychologist in metro Atlanta, says platforms like Roblox are often misunderstood by adults.
“What we are dealing with is not just play, it’s psychological immersion,” she said.
Children, she explained, are not simply passing time; they are forming identities, relationships and emotional attachments in these spaces.
“When harm happens, it is experienced as real,” she said. “And children don’t always have the tools to process what’s happening to them.”
Whitmore points to platform design as a key issue.
“These systems are built to keep kids engaged through rewards, social validation, and interaction,” she said. “But those same features can increase vulnerability.”
For Laura Ladefian, a licensed counselor in Georgia, who has specialized in working with children and teens impacted by online, social media and technology usage, she is seeing more children suffering from mental health issues around online gaming. Roblox, she said, comes up more often than parents might expect.
Roblox is more interactive and social than most games.
“Kids are building worlds, forming friendships, and communicating in real time,” Ladefian said. “That emotional investment makes negative experiences more impactful.”
Ladefian added that many parents underestimate the risks.
“Parents often think their child is just playing a game,” she said. “But these platforms are complex social environments, and not always safe ones.”
Roblox encourages parents to visit its Safety Center, which provides resources to “help families better understand how to support healthy, balanced online play that works for them.”
Launched in 2025, Roblox also has a “Learning Hub” where parents and kids can explore educational experiences covering topics like digital citizenship, coding, history and ecology and climate science.
‘A seismic shift in accountability’
State Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, co-chaired the bipartisan Senate Study Committee on the Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Children and Platform Privacy Protection. Harrell said the lawsuits in Georgia reflect a broader failure to regulate digital spaces used by children.
“We are behind where we need to be when it comes to protecting children in digital spaces,” Harrell said.
Drawing from testimony during hearings, Harrell recalled a parent who tried, and failed, to secure Roblox for their child.
“[The parent] spent hours trying to lock it down,” she said. “And it still didn’t work.” Sara had the same experience with her child, stating that children are bright and inquisitive and can find ways around the parental controls.
Advocates are calling for stronger age verification, better moderation and greater transparency about how platforms operate.
Harrell is among those pushing for reform.
“One solution is to treat these platforms like any other product used by children,” she said. “We hold companies accountable for toys, car seats, and cribs. We should do the same here.”
Harrell pointed to a long record of troubling trends among young people created by social media and gaming platforms.
“We now have more than a decade of data showing alarming increases in depression, anxiety, and self-harm among children and teens,” she said, noting that these trends accelerated alongside smartphone and platform use.
A central theme in the lawsuits and among experts is that safety tools often fall short.
“Tech companies say they offer safety features,” Harrell said. “But they’re completely inadequate and overwhelming for parents to manage.”
Concerns about digital well-being are shaping legislation in Georgia.
Earlier this year, lawmakers passed House Bill 1009, authored by Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, banning personal cellphone use in high schools during the school day starting in 2027–2028. The bill builds on earlier restrictions for K-8 students and reflects growing concern about the impact of screen use on mental health and academic performance.
What comes next
Sara decided before the legislation passed to move her child to a school that is technology-free because it was difficult to have a child in a learning environment where there is so much use of technology, in addition to cellphones. She decided not to contact law enforcement because she didn’t want to expose her child, who was already emotionally exposed, vulnerable and suicidal, to more stress. Her child is still in therapy and can only speak with friends on a landline. Sara has blocked all social media sites on laptops and computers and constantly monitors her child’s usage.
For Sara, the lesson is simple and urgent.
“I wish we had known more sooner,” she said. “If sharing this helps another family, then it matters.”
As lawsuits move forward and investigations continue, pressure is mounting on Roblox and other tech companies to strengthen protections for children.
But for families already impacted, the stakes are clear.
“As a parent, you think you’re protecting your child,” Sara said. “But I didn’t realize how exposed she was in that environment.”
She now sees Roblox not just as a game, but as a space where children can form intense, unsupervised relationships, often without the developmental capacity to navigate them safely.
“These platforms are not built with kids’ emotional safety in mind,” she said. “And when something goes wrong, the consequences are real.”
Staff writer Rosie Manins contributed to this article.
Roblox’s safety measures
These are some of the measures Roblox told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution it has to improve player safety:
Age Appropriate Restrictions: Users under 13 are restricted from chatting privately and by default, users under 9 can only access experiences rated “Minimal or Mild.”
Content Review & Moderation: Roblox uses a combination of AI and a team of safety specialists to review content before it is published on the platform.
Monitored Chat: Roblox chat is not encrypted, which allows it to monitor for inappropriate content and assist law enforcement as appropriate.
Text Filters: They’re designed to block personal information and attempts to move conversations to other platforms, where safety and moderation may not be as strong.
Nsenga K. Burton is a film and media scholar and critic. She is founder and editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire, an award-winning news blog covering the African Diaspora.
