{"id":4477,"date":"2026-04-21T20:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=4477"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:46:23","slug":"states-force-roblox-to-pay-23m-and-tighten-protections-for-young-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=4477","title":{"rendered":"States force Roblox to pay $23M and tighten protections for young users"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"https:\/\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/child-playing-roblox.jpg\" \/>     <\/p>\n<p>Roblox CEO David Baszucki responds to criticism over online safety, saying it is an industry-wide issue.<\/p>\n<p>Roblox has agreed to sweeping platform overhauls and more than $23 million in combined settlements with the states of Alabama and West Virginia following investigations into the gaming platform&#8217;s child safety failures.<\/p>\n<p>The settlements, both announced by the states&#8217; attorneys general on Tuesday, mandate strict new safeguards designed to protect minors from online predators and inappropriate content.<\/p>\n<p>Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who secured a $12.2 million settlement that ensures 100% of the funds will stay in the state, told FOX Business the negotiations had a twofold purpose of implementing structural changes to the platform to increase child safety and parental controls and securing monetary resources to enhance School Resource Officer (SRO) programs throughout Alabama.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re a platform online that is directing your efforts toward children as consumers, then that platform has a responsibility to ensure the safety of those young people,&#8221; Marshall said. &#8220;Whether they believe they were legally responsible or not, it&#8217;s simply the right thing to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>ROBLOX CEO SAYS CHILD SAFETY IS INDUSTRY-WIDE ISSUE, PLANS TOOLS TO KEEP BAD ACTORS OFF PLATFORM<\/p>\n<p>The settlements force stricter safety controls and fund new programs aimed at protecting young users and supporting law enforcement. (Marijan Murat\/picture alliance \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>He added that the focus was less about long-term harm and more about looking into the future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The ability to obtain significant changes within the platform as a result of these settlement agreements not only enhances the safety of young people using the platform, but I think (it) creates a framework for similarly situated companies,&#8221; Marshall said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a template for other states around the country to do something similar.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Roblox app on a smartphone Nov. 7, 2023.\u00a0 (Gabby Jones\/Bloomberg via Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>ROBLOX CEO INSISTS PLATFORM IS SAFE FOR CHILDREN DESPITE LAWSUITS OVER ONLINE PREDATORS<\/p>\n<p>The agreement also grants parents expanded controls, allowing them to restrict &#8220;Robux&#8221; in-game currency transfers from adults who are not trusted connections.<\/p>\n<p>West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey similarly announced an $11.08 million settlement with the gaming giant on Tuesday, noting that his state&#8217;s investigation found Roblox&#8217;s previous safety designs exposed young users to grooming, sexual predators and violent content.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>McCuskey said West Virginia is heavily reinvesting its settlement payout into dedicated state safety efforts, including $2.4 million over six years to hire a West Virginia-based internet safety specialist to coordinate with local law enforcement, according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p>The state will also spend $1.5 million on a three-year public safety campaign and $500,000 on safety education workshops for parents and children.<\/p>\n<p>David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox, presents at the Roblox Developer Conference Aug. 10, 2019, in Burlingame, Calif. (Ian Tuttle\/Getty Images for Roblox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>LOUISIANA SUES ONLINE GAMING PLATFORM ROBLOX FOR ALLEGEDLY ENABLING CHILD PREDATORS<\/p>\n<p>Despite the multimillion-dollar payouts and state investigations, Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki defended the platform earlier this month during an exclusive interview with &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends'&#8221; co-host Ainsley Earhardt.<\/p>\n<p>Rejecting accusations that the platform is a playground for pedophiles, Baszucki framed the recent overhauls as a continuation of Roblox&#8217;s proactive commitment to setting a &#8220;global gold standard&#8221; for digital safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ticker Security Last Change Change % RBLX ROBLOX CORP. 61.28 -0.54<br \/>\n        -0.87%<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized that Roblox builds in safety features &#8220;by default&#8221; ahead of legal requirements, strictly prohibits image sharing and filters all chat communications.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Roblox is proud to have worked collaboratively with Attorney General McCuskey to reach this agreement, which builds on our ongoing mission to establish the gold standard for digital safety,&#8221; Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman wrote in a statement to FOX Business.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This resolution \u2014 including our support for parent educational workshops and a dedicated law enforcement liaison \u2014 serves as an important blueprint for how the technology industry and regulators can work together proactively to help protect the next generation.<\/p>\n<p>GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have no finish line when it comes to safety,&#8221; Kaufman added. &#8220;We will continue to invest heavily in our people, processes and technology to protect our community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>McCuskey&#8217;s office did not immediately respond to FOX Business&#8217; request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>#States #force #Roblox #pay #23M #tighten #protections #young #users<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roblox CEO David Baszucki responds to criticism over online safety, saying it is an industry-wide&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[8263,3195,1426,9480,662,1579,9479,5224,4407],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}