Why Is Roblox Always Under Fire? What Parents Need to Know Now

Roblox has become one of the most popular online gaming platforms for kids, but in recent months, parents and safety advocates have sounded the alarm, arguing the company isn’t doing enough to protect its youngest users.

Below, all the latest claims—plus guidance from experts and defenses from Roblox.

What Is Roblox?

If you’ve never watched a kid play Roblox, it’s easy to assume it’s just another game, like Minecraft or Pokémon. But Roblox is more like an entire ecosystem—a virtual playground packed with millions of user-generated games, from obstacle courses and fashion shows to first-person escape rooms and fantasy adventures. Kids build avatars, earn Robux (in-game currency), join servers, and interact with others— often strangers—from around the world.

Think of it as YouTube meets LEGO meets the Metaverse. Except it’s powered largely by young users who make the games, set the rules, and drive the trends. It’s creative, chaotic, and a magnet for curious kids who want to build, play, and connect.

And it’s incredibly popular, with an average of 151.5 million daily users.

Age-Verification System

Roblox’s much-touted AI-powered age verification system has been “a complete mess,” according to reporting by Wired. That new technology asks users to take a short video or upload a government-issued photo ID to verify they’re old enough for certain features like chat—meant, in theory, to prevent adults from interacting with children they don’t know on the platform. But in practice, users have reported incorrect age estimates, children being misidentified as adults, adults masquerading as kids, and overall confusion about how the system actually works. 

According to RoMonitor Stats, about 40% of Roblox’s tens of millions of daily players are under 13 years old, despite stricter default settings for the age group that limits their access to certain social hangouts and unmoderated user-generated content (and restricts games with moderate violence for children under 9 entirely).

The result? Thousands of users—including kids themselves—have been publicly criticizing Roblox and its leadership on TikTok, Instagram, and other social platforms. They are specifically putting Roblox’s CEO on blast for what they see as a failure to create a genuinely safe environment. Viral clips shared by parent advocates and users show concerns ranging from predators in chat to system glitches that expose younger users to age-inappropriate interactions.

A New Class-Action Lawsuit

Adding fuel to the fire, ABC News reports that hundreds of parents are suing the company. They want Roblox to stop forcing disputes—such as claims involving grooming and sexual abuse, and lawsuits tied to scams that cost kids and families actual money—into private arbitration. Instead, these parents want Roblox to remain publicly responsible to the families who entrust it with their children’s online play.

An Ongoing Safety Risk

We parents—even those of us who allow our kids to play, with restrictions, guidance, and monitoring—know all too well that Roblox is more than just a game. This is a massive social platform where users create and share experiences, chat with millions of other players, and (for better or worse) form communities that can, once again, include complete strangers.

Despite the changes Roblox made to its safety systems in late 2024, stories detailing disturbing real-world consequences come at a regular clip. In Iowa, a teenager was allegedly groomed through Roblox before being abducted, prompting heightened concerns among law enforcement and safety groups. And in Florida, a teen allegedly used threatening language in Roblox before facing serious criminal charges, highlighting that unmonitored interaction isn’t just a theoretical danger. 

Further, multiple state attorneys general from Tennessee to Iowa have sued Roblox, arguing it misled parents about safety while exposing children to inappropriate content or predatory risks. And investigations continue abroad with Europe’s regulatory bodies probing whether the platform complies with strict child protection laws. 

Roblox Says It Has ‘Robust Policies to Protest Users’

Eliza Jacobs, Senior Director, Product Policy at Roblox, tells SheKnows that Roblox prioritizes safety with “robust policies to protect users that go beyond many other platforms, and advanced safeguards that monitor for harmful content and communications.” She adds, “We don’t allow user-to-user image or video sharing, have filters designed to block the sharing of personal information, and have rolled out age checks globally to limit kids and teens to chatting with others their age by default.”

Jacobs says the company takes swift action when it discovers someone violating safety rules, and works with law enforcement to support investigations to hold bad actors accountable.

As for Roblox’s questionable age verification, Jacobs says the technology utilized (Persona), has been tested and certified by third-party laboratories, resulting in “a Mean Absolute Error of 1.4 years for users younger than 18,” and that “we default to the youngest estimated age.” In other words, they’re confident about its effectiveness, despite complaints from the field.

Finally, she adds, the age verification process is one that continues through play. “Leveraging multiple signals, we are constantly evaluating user behavior to determine if someone is significantly older or younger than expected,” she says. “In these situations we will begin asking users to repeat the age-check process. For example, the system might detect that a user who has self-reported or age-checked as a younger child has a pattern of gameplay over time that indicates they may actually be a teen or adult. If the system detects this type of mismatch, the user will see a prompt asking them to complete an additional age check.”

She urges parents to navigate to Roblox’s Family Center to learn more.

Are the Guardrails Enough?

Roblox exposes kids to a mix of scams, age-inappropriate content, and unmonitored communication with strangers, for starters. Even with moderation and parental controls in place, things will slip through the cracks. Not to mention, the game’s endless stream of mini-experiences can make it hard for some kids to disengage even when met with something that makes them uncomfortable. And, if the game starts filling an emotional or social gap for your child rather than just killing time, it’s time for parents to reassess. 

Jill Murphy, chief content officer at Common Sense Media, advises parents to take a pause. “If their kids are already on the platform, don’t be afraid to start over with some new restrictions,” she says. “Pay attention to the platform’s features and functionality, not just its content and game type. Understanding the gameplay process (chat, privacy, etc.) will help parents determine what they are comfortable with and what they are not.”

But beware of hard limits. “Overly restricting how kids use a platform can be a recipe for pushing them to hide what they are doing,” she says, pointing parents toward the organization’s guide on setting parental controls in Roblox. “This is a how-to and takes the guesswork and heavy lifting off the parents’ shoulders.”