UTAH COUNTY, Utah — A Utah County family has filed a lawsuit alleging tech and gaming companies provided a gateway for a sexual predator to target their son, saying, "his life will never be the same."
The lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Roblox and Discord of "recklessly and deceptively" operating in a way that led to the 15-year-old boy being sexually exploited and harassed while online.
In the lawsuit, the Utah family claims the popular online game, which is allegedly the most downloaded game on the planet, and social media platform "prioritize growing the number of users of their apps over child safety."
Roblox's own website says the game is where "millions of people" go to "create, play, and connect with each other in experiences built by our global community of creators." Following a similar lawsuit filed by a Kentucky family in November, Roblox claimed to have 111 million daily users.
The family says that starting in June, their teenage son began interacting with an adult predator on Roblox who was posing as a peer.
"...the predator groomed [the boy], exploiting his age and vulnerability to build a false emotional connection with him," the lawsuit reads.
The adult male is accused of leading the boy to move their conversation that began on Roblox to Discord, where the man allegedly sent the teen "explicit messages and sexually explicit images." The lawsuit says the man "coerced" the boy to send him sexually explicit images himself.
The boy's father believed Roblox was safe for children "because it is designed and marketed for kids," and that Discord was a safe place due to the company spending "considerable time and money publicly touting the safety and security of the app."
Following the interactions, the boy's family said he suffers from severe mental health issues, including social withdrawal, difficulty trusting others and depression.
FOX 13 News reached out to both Roblox and Discord for comment, and has yet to receive a reply from either company. However, following the November lawsuit, Roblox shared a statement about its security protocols.
"No system is perfect and our work on safety is never done. We are constantly innovating our safety systems, including adding 100 new safeguards, such as facial age estimation, [in 2025] alone," the company said.
The Utah lawsuit does not list a monetary demand, but claims the companies could have implemented security measures to minimize alleged harms, including age restrictions, controlled chats, effective parental controls and requiring parental approval and email address to sign up for accounts.
