By Cecilia d’Anastasio | Bloomberg
Florida and New Jersey officials examine popular video game applications Roblox and discord on children’s safety problems.
Florida’s prosecutor general, James Uthmeier, published a summons to Roblox Corp. Wednesday, seeking information on “how this platform markets children and to see what policies they implement – if necessary – to avoid interactions with predators”, according to a statement from his office.
Roblox, who has 85 million people playing games on his site daily, was criticized for not having done enough to protect his young user base.
The assignment requests information on Roblox’s moderation practices, including the way in which the company based in San Mateo protects children from harmful content and bad actors, how minors can bypass parental controls and Roblox age procedures, among others. A representative of the Prosecutor General’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
A representative of Roblox said: “We intend to cooperate with the prosecutor’s office and we are impatient to share all the work that Roblox does to help users ensure security.”
Discord, a platform where young users gather to discuss video games and other subjects, is also faced with new control.
Thursday, the prosecutor general of New Jersey, Matthew Platkin, continued the company, which is used by 200 million people per month, for having allegedly overestimated the safety characteristics of the application for children. The complaint claims that Discord assured parents and children that the application parameters could protect direct messages from predators, but the company “misleads users and parents” and does not really scan messages with friends. Even when certain messaging filters have been activated, young people were still exposed to children’s sexual abuse equipment, videos representing violence or terror and other harmful content, according to the complaint.
The prosecution also claims that Discord does not apply a minimum age requirement, although it indicates that it prevents children under the age of 13 from creating accounts.
Discord said that this disputes complaints in the trial and is impatiently waiting to defend the action before the court. “Given our commitment to the Office of the Attorney General, we are surprised by the announcement that New Jersey brought an action against Discord today,” the company said in a statement.
Last year, the chief executive officer and co-founder Jason Lemon was called upon to testify in front of the US Senate during an audience on online children. Society claims to have solid policies against behavior that can affect children. He planned an IPO potentially this year, Bloomberg reported.
Roblox published 40 security updates in 2024, said company earlier this month when it had praised new tools to help parents control how their children interact with foreigners. A major change announced in November prevents children under the age of 13 from accessing “social meeting places”, such as virtual clubs or discussion forums.
A Bloomberg Businessweek survey last July revealed that Roblox revealed Roblox’s challenges to combat the predation of children. US police have arrested more than two dozen people accused of having abused or kidnapped victims they have met or neat on Roblox since 2018, according to the report. Employees of the company have described the extent of the challenge to monitor the huge business user base.
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Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
