Roblox, Discord sued after alleged sexual exploitation of 11-year-old girl

Roblox and Discord have been added to a lawsuit after an 11-year-old girl was allegedly sexually exploited via their platforms.

Roblox and Discord have been added to a lawsuit in the US, in a case where an 11-year-old girl was allegedly taken advantage of by a sexual predator while playing online games.

In a report by Bloomberg, the Social Media Victims Law Centre, a Seattle-based law firm, outlined how the girl had met adult men via Roblox and Discord’s direct message functions.

The case was filed in San Francisco on Wednesday, and also included claims against Snap and Meta (owners of Snapchat and Instagram, respectively) regarding the girl’s mental health deterioration and suicide attempts.

Roblox is a popular gaming app with kids. Picture: Roblox Inc

“These men sexually and financially exploited her,” the SMV lawyers stated. “They also introduced her to the social media platforms Instagram and Snapchat, to which she became addicted.”

The girl, known in the lawsuit only as S.U. due to legal reasons, is seeking financial compensation from the social media companies for their role in her alleged exploitation.

She received an iPad for Christmas when she was 10, and soon after befriended a man on gaming app Roblox, named Charles, who she said pushed her to drink alcohol and take prescription drugs. The friendship soon extended onto Discord, a gaming chat app with 150 million monthly users. There, she said the men convinced her to open Instagram and Snapchat accounts, which she hid from her mother.

Instagram and Snapchat are extremely popular social media platforms, owned by Meta and Snap respectively. Picture: AFP

She was able to open these accounts despite not being 13, the minimum age required by the apps’ terms of service, and would lose sleep staying up late to browse them. In 2020, she was allegedly convinced by a 22-year-old named Matthew, via Roblox, to send sexually explicit pictures, which he would allegedly sell online.

According to the complaint, the girl took two attempts on her life in 2020, and her parents went into debt over $15,000 in mental health counselling services.

While declining to comment on the case, a Discord spokesperson said the company “has a zero-tolerance policy for anyone who endangers or sexualises children”.

Meta and Snap’s official statements said the companies are “working to protect our youngest users”.

Roblox said it has a zero-tolerance police for users “endangering or sexualising children in any way”.

“While we do not comment on pending litigation, Roblox has a safety-first culture and works tirelessly to maintain a platform that is safe and civil for all,” a spokesperson told Ars.

— written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF