FLORENCE, Ky. — A Boone County family has filed a lawsuit against Roblox Corporation and Discord Inc. over the death of their 13-year-old daughter by suicide in 2024.
The lawsuit is the 12th filed against Roblox by Philadephia firm Anapol Weiss, and one of many across the U.S. filed against the popular online gaming platforms alleging the companies do not do enough to protect minors using their services.
The lawsuit says the 13-year-old "was pushed to suicide by an online community dedicated to glorifying violence and emulating notorious mass shooters."
It goes on to accuse Roblox and Discord of providing platforms where adults can access and prey on children either for sexual exploitation or for violence. The lawsuit also alleges that Roblox knowingly puts children at risk because it prioritizes user growth over safety.
"This deliberate indifference has devastated the lives of children who use (Roblox and Discord) apps," reads the lawsuit.
It goes on to say the 13-year-old Boone County girl was an avid Roblox user who was experiencing bullying and relied heavily on the app for social interaction, "making her a prime target for the communities of violent extremists who roam the app looking for socially isolated and vulnerable children. These include the True Crime Community (TCC), which idolizes mass shooters and overlaps with other violent and extremist ideologies."
Through Roblox, the teen was exposed to "emotional manipulation and social pressure" by other users, including those associated with the TCC, who claimed to revere the Columbine shooters and "depicted them as misunderstood outcasts who took revenge on their bullies, and encouraged violence against oneself and others," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit goes on to say that the teen also joined Discord, which heightened social pressures. The lawsuit says predators used that app to continue to exploit the girl's vulnerability.
It also alleges that the girl's death "was the direct result of Defendants' unlawful conduct," and that her parents would never have permitted her to use either app had Roblox and Discord "disclosed what was really occurring on their apps."
The 13-year-old girl's parents set parental controls on both Discord and Roblox, believing that would ensure safety in using the platforms; however, the lawsuit claims both defendants fail to screen abusive users or provide effective parental controls.
"Despite the parental controls that Plaintiff had attempted to place on (the teen's) accounts, the platforms allowed predators to contact (her) and allowed these relationships to flourish until her death," the lawsuit reads. "Plaintiff was unaware until after (her daughter's) death that her daughter had been exposed to these toxic communities and predators. Predators instilled the fear and shame that led (the teen) to meticulously hide her interactions with them from Plaintiff."
In addition, the lawsuit alleges that had Roblox and Discord taken any steps to screen users allowed to use the apps, the teen "would not have been exposed to the large communities of violent extremists she encountered there."
Both apps require users to set up accounts to use them, but neither program forces a user to verify their age — meaning young people can misidentify themselves as older just as easily as adults can misidentify themselves as minors.
The Boone County lawsuit is asking Roblox and Discord to pay damages to the teen's family, including for medical and funeral expenses. They're also asking for a jury trial to resolve the lawsuit.
Other lawsuits also take aim at Roblox
Earlier this month, WCPO's sister station reported that Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced he'd filed a lawsuit against Roblox, calling the gaming platform "a playground for predators."
Coleman said he discovered the platform's accessibility firsthand when he learned one of his own children created an account at 10 years old without parental knowledge.
The attorney general referenced public records linking Roblox to several concerning incidents, including "assassination simulators" that appeared following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and "extremist sextortion groups" that have allegedly extorted, threatened, and conspired to kill children as young as 8 years old.
Coleman's complaint alleges Roblox is violating Kentucky's Consumer Protection Act and seeks penalties of up to $2,000 for each violation, plus additional fines and penalties.
Roblox disputed Coleman's account in a statement that read in part: "We welcome a direct conversation with the AG's office and all policymakers to ensure they have a clear understanding of all Roblox is doing to keep users safe. Keeping kids safe online requires a collaborative industry-wide effort, which we welcome."
Coleman isn't the only attorney general to file a lawsuit; According to CBS, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has also filed one against the platform over inappropriate content.
Roblox, valued at $41 billion when it went public in 2021, has long faced scrutiny over safety and content moderation.
