Late Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against the online gaming platform Roblox, citing concerns about child safety and accusing the company of misleading parents regarding the risks associated with its service.
Paxton claimed in his statement that Roblox is putting profits and so-called “pixel pedophiles” ahead of children’s safety, describing the platform as a “hub for predators.”
“We cannot let platforms such as Roblox serve as digital playgrounds for predators,” Paxton stated. “Roblox must take stronger action to shield children from dangerous individuals hiding online. Any company that facilitates child exploitation will be met with the full force of the law.”
This legal action from Paxton follows similar lawsuits filed by attorneys general in Louisiana and Kentucky, as well as several cases in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania targeting Roblox. The company has faced ongoing criticism for failing to provide sufficient protections for minors, leaving them vulnerable to grooming, explicit material, and abusive or violent content.
In response to these incidents and investigations, governments worldwide have begun enacting stricter regulations requiring social platforms to verify users’ ages, such as the U.K.’s Online Safety Act and Mississippi’s age-assurance law. Other states, including Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Virginia, are also weighing similar legislation.
Roblox has introduced a range of new safety measures, including an age-estimation tool that uses selfies and facial analysis, standardized content and maturity ratings, AI systems to identify early warning signs of child risk, protections for teens, content moderation controls, and more. The platform also provides parental controls, options to limit communication, and technology to detect widespread rule violations among users.
As of September 30, 2025, Roblox reported 151.5 million daily active users.
Roblox stated that it has adopted “industry-leading protocols” to safeguard users and combat harmful behavior, expressing disappointment over the lawsuit. “We are disappointed that, instead of collaborating with Roblox to address this industry-wide issue and pursue genuine solutions, the Attorney General has opted to file a lawsuit based on distortions and exaggerated allegations,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
“Roblox is firmly dedicated to child safety. Our guidelines are intentionally more rigorous than those on many other platforms. We ban the sharing of images and videos in chat, employ filters to block personal information, and our trained staff and automated systems constantly monitor communications to identify and remove harmful material,” the spokesperson added.
Update: Roblox’s response has been included in this story.
