Roblox, Discord scrutinised by states over child safety issues

Officials in Florida and New Jersey are scrutinizing popular video game apps Roblox and Discord over child safety concerns.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a subpoena to Roblox Corp. Wednesday, seeking information about “how this platform is marketing to children and to see what policies they are implementing — if any — to avoid interactions with predators,” according to a statement from his office.

Roblox, which has 85 million people play games on its site daily, has been criticized for not doing enough to protect its young user base.

The subpoena requests information about Roblox’s moderation practices, including how the San Mateo, California-based company protects kids from harmful content and bad actors, how minors can circumvent parental controls and what Roblox’s age-verification procedures are, among other things. A representative of the attorney general’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Roblox representative said, “we intend to cooperate with the Attorney General’s office and look forward to sharing all the work Roblox does to help keep users safe.”

Discord, a platform where young users congregate to chat about video games and other topics, is facing fresh scrutiny, too.

On Thursday, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin sued the company, which is used by 200 million people monthly, for allegedly overstating the app’s safety features for children. The complaint claims Discord assured parents and kids that the app’s settings could keep direct messages safe from predators, but the company in fact “misled users and parents” and doesn’t actually scan messages between friends. Even when certain messaging filters were enabled, young people were still exposed to child sexual abuse material, videos depicting violence or terror, and other harmful content, according to the complaint.

The suit also claims that Discord doesn’t enforce a minimum age requirement, although it says it prevents children under 13 from creating accounts.

Discord said it disputes the claims in the lawsuit and looks forward to defending the action in court. “Given our engagement with the Attorney General’s office, we are surprised by the announcement that New Jersey has filed an action against Discord today,” the company said in a statement.

Last year, Discord Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Jason Citron was called to testify before the US Senate at a hearing on protecting children online. The company says it has robust policies against behavior that can harm children. It is planning an IPO potentially as soon as this year, Bloomberg has reported.

Roblox published 40 safety updates in 2024, the company said earlier this month as it touted new tools to help parents control how their children interact with strangers. One major change announced in November prevents children under 13 from accessing “social hangouts,” like virtual clubs or discussion forums.

A Bloomberg Businessweek investigation last July uncovered Roblox’s challenges combating child predation. US police have arrested more than two dozen people accused of abusing or abducting victims they met or groomed on Roblox since 2018, according to the report. Employees at the company described the breadth of the challenge of policing the company’s huge user base.