Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier launched a criminal investigation into the online gaming platform Roblox, calling it “a breeding ground for child predators.”
The criminal investigation follows a civil subpoena that Uthmeier’s office issued to Roblox in April over its child protection policies. Uthmeier said in an interview on Fox & Friends that his office found evidence that Roblox has been “operating in a careless way” and alleged that the company is aware child predators have used their platform.
“They know child predators are using the app to go after our kids and they haven’t done enough about it,” Uthmeier said. “They don’t have enough protocols in place for age verification. They’re not doing enough to monitor the content that’s being shared over the application, sexual content with 8- and 9-year-olds. And, ultimately, they haven’t done enough to work with the state to ensure proper online protocols.”
Roblox responded to the move, saying they are working with Uthmeier in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
““We share Attorney General Uthmeier’s commitment to keeping kids safe and we will continue to assist his office in their investigations. We have a strong record of working with law enforcement and investing in advanced safety systems to help protect our users and remove bad actors,” a Roblox spokesperson said. “To safeguard users, we prohibit the sharing of images and videos in chat, use filters designed to block the exchange of personal information, and are working to implement age estimation for all users accessing chat features. While no system is perfect, our trained teams and automated tools continuously monitor communications to detect and remove harmful content. We are committed to leading the industry in safety and transparency.”
The gaming platform is facing several lawsuits in places including Florida and South Carolina, as families allege that their children were groomed by predators on Roblox systems. A Roblox spokesperson told Fox 35 Orlando that the platform has made “over 100 safety enhancements to help protect our users and empower parents and caregivers with greater control and visibility.”
Roblox has rolled out several initiatives throughout 2025 aimed at user safety. In May, the company introduced a head of parental advocacy, Elizabeth Milovidov, who came from Lego. The company also launched three new parental control measures in April and created a parent and caregiver council for the platform in early October.
However, the control measures did not deter Uthmeier’s office from announcing criminal subpeonas as part of the investigation Monday.
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Uthmeier said child predators typically pose as children on the online platform and start messaging children with sexual imagery and content. He said state officials have even seen child predators schedule in-person meet-ups with children that have led to physical abuse.
“Roblox profited off of our kids while exposing them to the most dangerous of harms,” Uthmeier said in a statement. “They enabled our kids to be abused. These criminal subpoenas will enable us to gather more information for our prosecutors about the criminal activity taking place on Roblox platform, as well as evidence on the predators that are out there and the victims that are abused.”
