As much fun stuff as there is on the internet, there are also child predators and they will find ways to talk to your kids (that's why I personally am not a fan of family influencers).
According to KCCI, a family in Polk County is suing popular gaming platform Roblox. They say that a minor, identified as D.H., was kidnapped from her home in West Des Moines and trafficked across multiple states.
They allege a 37-year-old man posed as a teenager on the platform and groomed her and kidnapped her.
The parents say they were unaware of the dangers of the seemingly harmless platform.
400 People Are Coming After Roblox
NBC Chicago reports that the Polk County family is hardly the only ones to voice their problems with Roblox. An estimated 76 million people play the game every day.
A lot of these involve Roblox's chat feature and failure to have a stricter age verification. But recently, Roblox did roll out new security features, like using AI and moderators to remove objectionable content, stronger age verification (a face scan).
As a policy, we cannot comment on pending litigation, but Roblox is deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our community, with tens of millions having positive experiences every day. Protecting children is a top priority, and we invest significant resources in advanced safety technology, including a combination of machine learning and human moderation teams working 24/7 to detect and address inappropriate content and behavior. This includes attempts to share personal information or direct users off platform where safety standards and moderation may be less stringent than ours.
Meanwhile, as for the Iowa family's case, the man involved is facing 4 counts of aggravated statutory rape in Tennessee and is awaiting charges in Iowa.
Experts say one way parents can help protect kids on platforms like Roblox is to link their kid's account to their own and use the updated online safety center to block certain people. Parents can also disable kids' access to the chat feature.