Topline
Roblox, the online video game hugely popular with kids and teenagers, reached a $12 million settlement with Alabama on Tuesday over child safety concerns, the second settlement Roblox has reached with a state in recent weeks as it still faces at least a half dozen lawsuits from other states.
Key Facts
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the settlement Tuesday, through which Roblox has agreed to pay the state $12.2 million, which will be used to fund school resources.
Under the terms of the settlement, Marshall said Roblox has agreed to mandate all users to undergo age checks, which will be conducted through facial age estimation technology and government ID verification.
Marshall said Roblox will expand parental controls to allow parents to restrict who their children talk to in-game, and communication involving minors cannot be encrypted, so law enforcement can more easily investigate potential child exploitation.
“We have now established a framework that other states can and should use,” Marshall said in the settlement announcement.
Roblox reached a similar $12 million settlement with Nevada last week, but it still faces lawsuits from Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Kentucky, and it has been hit with lawsuits from dozens of families across multiple states alleging it failed to protect their children from exploitation.
Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, told Forbes the settlement “reflects a shared commitment to the safety and well-being of Alabama students” and “reinforces our work to set the gold standard for digital safety.”
How Is Roblox Responding To Legal Challenges?
Roblox says it has implemented various new child safety features as lawsuits have piled up. Last week, the gaming platform said it had unveiled new age-based accounts settings, with stricter safety features for younger age groups. Beginning in June, users aged 5-8 will be placed in the “Roblox Kids” tier, in which communication is disabled by default—though it can be enabled with a linked parent account—and restricts access to games that have been rated with a “minimal” or “mild” content warning. Users aged 9-15 will be placed in the “Roblox Select” tier, which permits default chat settings, though these are also subject to parental controls, and allows users to play games that have a “minimal,” “mild” or “moderate” content warning. Users aged 16 and above will have chat enabled by default, and they can play all games regardless of content warnings, except those labeled “restricted,” which are for users 18 and older. Ages are determined by age check technology and by parental verification.
Why Is Roblox Facing Lawsuits?
Roblox has come under intense legal scrutiny in recent months as families, and the attorneys general of several states, have accused it of failing to protect children from child predators. Some of these states have accused Roblox of violating consumer protection and deceptive trade laws by allegedly falsely marketing itself as a safe platform for young users. A Nebraska lawsuit filed last month accused the gaming platform of building a “multibillion‑dollar business on the trust of families” while “creating a playground for predators and exposing children to graphic and dangerous content.” The Los Angeles Times reported in December multiple California families sued the gaming platform, with one family alleging a Roblox user tried to coerce their young daughter to meet him alone at his apartment, and another claiming their child was sexually assaulted by a man their child met on Roblox.
How Popular Is Roblox?
Roblox says it has a massive 151.5 million daily active users as of the third quarter of 2025. Roblox did not say in that quarterly report how many users are under 13, but in a July report, it said 36% of its user base is under 13.
Tangent
Discord, an online chat platform popular among gamers, has also come under scrutiny, as some lawsuits allege child predators meet children on Roblox and convince them to move their conversation over to the DIscord platform. Florida opened an investigation into Discord in March, saying many of the state’s “criminal investigations into internet child predators lead to one place: Discord.” The state has not sued Discord, but issued a subpoena requesting information about its marketing to children and its age verification policies.
Further Reading
Nebraska Is Latest State To Sue Roblox—Accuses Company Of ‘Creating A Playground For Predators’ (Forbes)
Florida Opens Investigation Into Discord Over Child Safety Concerns (Forbes)
