Louisana AG calls the Roblox game “Escape to Epstein Island” in the trial

The attorney general of Louisiana filed a complaint Thursday against the popular online game platform Roblox, accusing him of not protecting children. Among the equipment with which the costume presents a game on the platform called “Escape to Epstein Island” which was labeled as appropriate for all ages.

The Attorney General Liz Murrill alleges in the trial that Roblox has put user growth and the benefits on children’s safety, calling it “the ideal place for pedophiles”.

“Each parent must be aware of the clear and current danger to his children by Roblox so that he can prevent the unthinkable from performing at home,” Murrill said in a press release.

Roblox, founded in 2006, has increased in popularity in recent years, becoming one of the most used game sites for children and adolescents. Earlier this year, the company said it had 111.8 million daily active users, including many minors. Depending on the company, 34% of its users are 13 years old or less.

The trial of the Attorney General specifically accuses Roblox to facilitate the distribution of children’s sexual abuse equipment, of not having deliberately implemented security checks to protect minors from predators and not to warn parents and young users of the risk of the platform.

Roblox told Gizmodo in a statement sent by e-mail according to which the complaint he intentionally put in danger users was “categorically false”.

“Although no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous guarantees, such as restrictions on the sharing of personal information, user’s links and sharing – to help protect our community,” said a company spokesman. “Unfortunately, the bad players will try to get around our systems to try to deactivate users outside the platform, where safety standards and moderation practices may differ.”

In a blog article responding to the trial, Roblox has highlighted his efforts to protect children on his platform, including 40 new features deployed in the past year.

However, the trial maintains that users can easily distort their age on the platform, allowing predators to land as a child and allow minors to get around age restrictions for games or experiences on the site.

The trial indicates a recent report which discovered a group of 3,334 Roblox users who openly exchanged children of sexual abuse and soliciting sexual acts of minors.

Meanwhile, Roblox offers millions of games or experiences ranging from sports and role -playing games to naval battles, fashion competitions and comedy sketches. But not all are suitable for children. Experiences like “Diddy Party” and “Public Bathroal Simulator Vibe” appeared on the platform, with sexually explicit content.

The creators of these experiences have control to qualify their games as “all ages”, which gives children access to inappropriate content. An example cited in the trial is an experience called “Escape to Epstein Island”, which directly referred to the American financier who was accused of sexual traffic minors.

The trial claims that the platform “has intentionally and / or knowingly designed Roblox without requiring appointments adapted to the age on experiences in order to increase the number of uses by experience in order to increase income”.

Murrill is looking for a permanent injunction to prevent the company from claiming that it has adequate security characteristics and forbid it to engage in all the practices that would violate Louisiana an Trade Practices Act.

This week, California representative Ro Khanna also launched a petition calling Roblox to do more to protect users.