Florida attorney general issues subpoenas to Roblox over child safety

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(Reuters) -Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office is issuing criminal subpoenas to Roblox Corp, calling the video gaming platform a “breeding ground for predators” that puts children at risk.

In a video posted on X, Uthmeier accused Roblox of profiting from children while failing to protect them. “They enabled our kids to be abused,” he said.

The subpoenas will allow prosecutors to gather more information about the alleged criminal activity on the platform, including evidence related to suspected predators and victims, according to Uthmeier.

Roblox has long faced questions over children’s safety, a concern highlighted by a short seller report from Hindenburg Research in October last year.

The concerns prompted Roblox to invest heavily in protecting younger users on its platform by tightening messaging rules for children under 13, intensive content moderation and AI-powered monitoring.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, Roblox said it prohibits sharing images and videos in chat, uses filters designed to block the exchange of personal information, and is working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features.

“While no system is perfect, our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content,” a Roblox spokesperson said.

Iraq banned Roblox late on Sunday, citing concerns that the platform enables direct user communication exposing children and adolescents to potential exploitation or cyber-extortion, and saying its content was “incompatible with social values and traditions.”

Roblox faces mounting scrutiny in the U.S., with multiple lawsuits, including by the Louisiana attorney general and an earlier case in San Francisco, alleging it fails to implement adequate safety measures and enables sexual predators to exploit children.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)