FTC urged to investigate Roblox over child safety and deceptive marketing

Child‑safety advocacy groups, including the Anxious Generation Movement, Fairplay and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, have filed a dossier with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission urging an investigation of Roblox. The complaint accuses the gaming platform’s design and marketing practices of exposing children—up to 30‑40% of its 150 million daily users are under 13—to sexual content, predators and undue pressure to spend on the virtual currency Robux, violating the FTC’s unfair‑deceptive trade rules.

Roblox, headquartered in San Mateo, California, says it requires age verification for chat, limits interactions to similar‑aged users, and has introduced tools such as facial‑age estimation and a real‑time child‑endangerment detection system called Sentinel. The company disputes the claims. The request adds to scrutiny of the platform, which faces more than 140 federal lawsuits alleging it knowingly facilitates child sexual exploitation. An FTC spokesperson declined to comment on the letter.