Northeast Ohio families sue Roblox after children sexually exploited, lawsuits allege

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Two Northeast Ohio residents have sued the popular video game site Roblox, accusing users of sexually exploiting their children.

The mother of a 13-year-old Summit County girl and the mother of a 13-year-old Cuyahoga County boy both said in separate lawsuits that their children were groomed by adults on the site, forced into sending sexually explicit images of themselves and threatened.

The 13-year-old girl hurt herself after a predator she had met on Roblox released sexually explicit videos of the girl on Snapchat, the filing said.

“As the result of [Roblox’s] reckless disregard for child safety, (the victim) has suffered devastating psychological trauma,” the lawsuit said. “Her life will never be the same.”

The lawsuits add to a growing number of accusations against Roblox, a site with an estimated 380 million users that’s marketed toward children who play games created by other users.

Two state attorneys general — in Louisiana and Kentucky — have also filed lawsuits. One lawsuit says a 15-year-old boy took his own life after being threatened on the app.

The lawsuits allege that Roblox fails to provide safeguards for children against predators and profits off ignoring a widespread problem.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Roblox for .

In a case filed in federal court in Akron, a man claiming to be 19 years old began messaging the girl in August 2024, struck up a friendship and started contacting her on the social media app Discord, the lawsuit said.

The man said he needed help with his Apple ID and asked for the girl’s account information. Once he got the girl’s information, he accessed her passwords, location and her parents’ information, according to the document.

He demanded the girl send him sexually explicit images and videos of herself whenever he wanted or he would harm her family members, the lawsuit said.

The girl sent the man videos, then blocked him on social media. The man released the explicit videos on the girl’s account, using her log-in information that he had stolen, the filing alleged.

The videos were screen-recorded and sent around her school, according to the lawsuit.

Law enforcement officers notified the girl’s mother and later said they found the predator was a middle-aged man living in Pakistan, the complaint indicates.

The girl has since suffered from anxiety and depression and had suicidal ideations, according to the filing. She hurt herself and was hospitalized.

She and her parents are in intensive counseling and the girl left her school because of “relentless peer torment,” the lawsuit said.

In another lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday, the 13-year-old Cuyahoga County boy was groomed by an adult pretending to be a child while playing Roblox.

The predator threatened to harm the boy and his parents if he didn’t send sexually explicit videos, according to the lawsuit. The boy complied and has since suffered “profound life-altering” effects.

“This case against Roblox is a terrifying reminder of the world we live in where capitalist greed far outweighs humanity,” the boy’s attorney, Matthew Dolman, said in a statement.

“There have never been sufficient safety measures and protocols in place, putting our youngest and most vulnerable communities into unimaginable harm’s way every second of the day. Without forcing systemic change, Roblox will continue to operate anarchically.”