In recent years, Roblox has come under fire for severe child safety concerns, with child predators getting arrested left and right, and multiple lawsuits having been filed against the company in recent months. Most recently, Chris Hansen, known for his “To Catch a Predator” series, has launched an informal investigation against the company.
With the advancement of technology, and the age range in which children are tuning in online getting younger, online platforms have to maintain and update protocols of online safety for users all the time. However, it seems these platforms are struggling to keep up with these changing mediums, especially Roblox. The game claims to have some safety protocols in place. However, these protocols failed to keep predators from interacting with their young users and from keeping users from using loopholes to avoid being banned from the platform altogether. Many incidents have arisen about these concerns, and the game is now facing a wave of legal complaints, with Chris Hansen at the forefront of it all.
Chris Hansen is known for his in-depth analyses on different content and trending topics, a lot of which concern child protection and child sexual predators. Hansen has now turned his attention to the issues the game is currently facing. Hansen is preparing a documentary commenting on the company, the lawsuits they face, and the response from fans and players of the game concerning all that has happened.
It seems what triggered this exposé was the banning of popular Roblox YouTuber Schlep, after the content creator received a cease and desist letter from the company and was subsequently banned from the platform, due to his involvement in identifying child predators on the gaming platform and his content on YouTube, which posted all of this activity.
According to Hansen on an X post, “You may have heard that my streaming crime network TruBlu and I are investigating the exploitation of children on the popular gaming platform Roblox. Well, it’s absolutely true and we’re deep into it”. Roblox has had backlash from both the media and the public due to its handling of sensitive situations and the seemingly silencing of content creators who spotlight this hot issue. Hansen’s investigation will include exclusive interviews from law enforcement investigators and victims of these crimes, as well as a collaboration with YouTuber Schlep, who says he is “committed to helping” Hansen with the investigation.
If you witness or experience online sexual activity or harassment, please report it to the online platform you are using and to your local police.
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!