A Snohomish County family has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Roblox Corporation of failing to protect their child from sexual exploitation by an online predator, alleging the company misled parents about safety and ignored known risks to children, according to court records.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, was brought by John Doe A.T. on behalf of his daughter, identified as Jane Doe A.T., a minor who lives in Snohomish County.
Court documents say the girl was 12 years old when she was targeted by a male adult who used Roblox to pose as a child and gain her trust.
According to the complaint, the man built a false emotional connection with the child by promising friendship before coercing her into sending sexually explicit images.
The lawsuit states the exploitation occurred because Roblox allowed predators to freely interact with children through its design and communication features.
According to the lawsuit, Roblox hosts tolls that allow users to create virtual environments that other users can interact with, using their avatars.
Those environments then devolved into sexually explicit content and simulated sexual activity.
The lawsuit then lists several examples, including simulated rape and simulated nudity.
One game, called “Public Bathroom Simulator Vibe” allows users as young as nine to simulate sexual activity in a bathroom stall. Others include virtual strip clubs, allowing child avatars to remove their virtual clothing and give lap dances.
A more recent report, according to the lawsuit, Roblox actively hosted over 600 “Diddy” games, with titles like “Survive Diddy,” “Run from Diddy Simulator,” and “Diddy Party.”
There are more than 900 Roblox accounts using variations on the name of Jeffrey Epstein, and games like “Escape to Epstein Island.”
According to the lawsuit, a recent report found a group of 3,334 Roblox members “openly trading child pornography and soliciting sexual acts from minors,” those members led to another group of 103,000 members.
The family says the child’s father allowed her to use Roblox because he relied on the company’s public safety claims.
The lawsuit alleges Roblox repeatedly portrayed itself as a safe and appropriate platform for children, while failing to implement basic safeguards.
“Through its pervasive patterns of misrepresentations about safety, Defendant portrays its app as a safe and appropriate place for children to play,” the complaint states. “In reality, the design of its app makes children easy prey for pedophiles.”
The lawsuit describes Roblox as a platform designed to encourage social interaction among users, including children, through direct messaging, in-game chat and shared virtual spaces.
Court records say users can create accounts by entering only a birthdate, username and password, without any meaningful age or identity verification, allowing adults to pose as minors.
According to the complaint, Roblox knew predators were using the platform to target children but failed to adequately monitor communications, restrict adult-child contact or enforce effective parental controls.
The lawsuit alleges the company made a deliberate choice to prioritize growth over safety.
A former Roblox employee is quoted in the filing as saying, “You have to make a decision… You can keep your players safe, but then it would be less of them on the platform. Or you just let them do what they want to do. And then the numbers all look good and investors will be happy.”
Court records say the Snohomish County child suffered lasting emotional and psychological harm as a result of the exploitation, including anxiety, trauma and loss of trust.
“Plaintiff has suffered unimaginable harm,” the complaint states, adding that the injuries are “severe, ongoing, and permanent.”
The lawsuit brings multiple claims against Roblox, including negligence, failure to warn, unreasonable and defective design, negligent misrepresentation and fraudulent concealment.
The family is seeking damages and has demanded a jury trial.
In a statement provided to KIRO 7 News, a Roblox spokesperson said:
“We are deeply troubled by any incident that endangers any user. Roblox aims to build a platform that sets the bar for safety online, and we prioritize the safety of our community. This is why our policies are purposely stricter than those found on many other platforms. We limit chat for younger users, don’t allow user-to-user image sharing, and have filters designed to block the sharing of personal information. We also understand that no system is perfect and that is why we are constantly working to further improve our safety tools and platform restrictions to ensure parents can trust us to help keep their children safe online.
We also understand this is an industry-wide issue and we are working to develop industry-wide standards and solutions. For instance, Roblox is implementing an industry-leading policy to help prevent older users from communicating with children by requiring a sophisticated facial age estimation process for all Roblox users who access our communications features. We partner with law enforcement and leading child safety and mental health organizations worldwide to combat the sexual exploitation of children and are a founding member of the Tech Coalition’s Lantern project and the nonprofit Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST).”
©2026 Cox Media Group
