LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Tuesday the commonwealth is suing popular gaming platform Roblox over concerns it is unsafe for children.

Roblox knowingly has created a playground for predators to distribute child sexual abuse material and groom juvenile victims, Coleman alleged in a news conference Oct. 7.

Roblox is an online platform and game creation system that establishes a virtual universe and allows participants to create avatars and play games with themselves and other users. Nearly two-thirds of all U.S. children between ages nine and 12 play games on the Roblox platform, according to Coleman.

Kentucky’s civil lawsuit, filed Monday, accuses Roblox of violating the state’s Consumer Protection Act through deceptive and unfair practices by misrepresenting the platform’s safety and concealing risks.

Coleman likened Roblox to a playground with “sexual predators hanging off every jungle gym.”

Existing reports show Roblox has become an environment for predators and other bad actors through social features such as chat and friend requests.

For example, so-called “assassination simulators” were created on the site after the killing of Charlie Kirk. Extremist sextortion groups have used the platform to extort, threaten and conspire to kill children as young as 8, Coleman said during the press conference.

“Get your kids off Roblox,” Coleman said, “do it today.”

Louisiana’s attorney general was the first to file a lawsuit against Roblox in August. Florida’s attorney general has opened a child-safety investigation into Roblox, as well.

More than 20 federal lawsuits accuse Roblox of allowing child exploitation, according to online court records.

Claims against Roblox

In 2023, Bloomberg reported more than 13,000 instances of child exploitation were linked to Roblox by using the chat functions to gain children’s trust and encourage conversations off the site.

This was the case for 15-year-old Ethan Dallas of San Diego, who died by suicide in April 2024, the New York Times reported. Ethan, who had autism, had used Roblox since he was 7. There, he met someone he thought was another minor by the name of “Nate,” according to The Times.

Nate and Ethan formed a friendship, and Nate convinced Ethan to disable parental controls, send sexually explicit pictures and eventually move to another chat platform, Discord.

Law enforcement later believed “Nate” was actually a 37-year-old man named Timothy O’Connor. Earlier this month, Ethan’s mother, Becca Dallas, sued Roblox for wrongful death.

O’Connor was arrested on separate charges of possession of child pornography and transmitting harmful material to minors, according to The Times.

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