Roblox changes policies on 'romantic and sexual content' and promises better moderation on the way as Louisiana AG repeats assertion that the platform 'is a breeding ground for sex predators'

Immediately following a lawsuit filed by the state of Louisiana alleging that Roblox "is overrun with harmful content and child predators," Roblox Corporation has updated its policies on "romantic and sexual content" to prohibit material that even just "implies" sexual activity. Roblox is also rolling out new restrictions on unrated experiences that will limit their access to the developers working on them, and says it will implement new technology that will "detect violative user behavior in otherwise policy-compliant experiences."

Roblox is also updating its policy to restrict access to "social hangout experiences depicting private spaces (such as bedrooms and bathrooms)" to users who have used Roblox's age verification system to confirm that they're at least 17. Settings intended for adults, such as virtual bars and clubs, will have the same restrictions, and any developers making such spaces will also have to be verified as 17 or older.

"We’ve seen that Social Hangouts—experiences where the primary purpose is to chat with other users as the user or their avatar—can sometimes contain inappropriate user behavior when they include certain settings," Roblox chief safety officer Matt Kaufman wrote. "Although these settings are not against our current policies, we’ve observed higher rates of inappropriate user behavior in them, so we’re further restricting some of them from our younger users.

"We’ve been thoughtful about this policy's design and intent. Many experiences, such as dollhouses or simulations, include individual beds or bathroom assets, but the larger gameplay scenario and the overall design of the experience may not inspire the kind of violative user behavior that we’ve seen in social hangouts or experiences primarily set in these private spaces. We’ve designed the policy to carefully balance user safety and community creativity."

Kaufman suggested that all of these changes have been in the works for a while already, saying in the update that Roblox is sharing this information "earlier than we had planned because we know constant progress in this area is as important to our community as it is to us." Fair enough—but's also fair to say that Roblox is facing unprecedented pressure over its moderation and safety policies.

Worries about child safety on Roblox itself is nothing new—it's been dogged for years by allegations that it's unfriendly or outright unsafe for kids—but the decision to crack down on "vigilantes" on the platform, in particular a ban on the popular YouTuber Schlep, seems to have triggered a fierce backlash. Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill said last week while announcing the state's lawsuit against Roblox that "it's basically open season for sex predators on this platform."

US lawmaker Ro Khanna called on the company "to do more to protect children, provide more support to parents, and strengthen law enforcement protocols that help bring predators to justice" last week—also saying, notably, that it needs to "give creators and developers a seat at the table."

Chris Hansen, the former host of the To Catch a Predator reality TV series, has also jumped on the bandwagon, confirming that he is collaborating with Schlep on an investigation into Roblox.

A petition on Change.org calling for the removal of Roblox Corporation CEO David Baszucki has attracted more than 138,000 signatures since it went live last week. Baszucki, along with Kaufman and senior director of product policy Eliza Jacobs, shared his own update on Roblox's "commitment to safety, civility, and freedom" immediately after the most recent policy changes were announced. The video has been massively downvoted on YouTube, drawing 5,900 likes against 48,000 dislikes two days after it was posted.

It's hard not to see the apparent urgency of Roblox's response as anything but straight-up damage control. But that urgency is less evident in some of the actual changes being promised: The new limits to unrated experiences, for instance—a broadening of a policy first announced in November 2024—will be rolled out "in the coming months," which seems oddly distant and vague given the spotlight Roblox now stands in.

For her part, Murrill, the Louisiana AG heading up the lawsuit against Roblox, does not sound impressed. The changes were announced on Friday, shortly after Roblox Corporation responded to the Louisiana lawsuit; Merrill took to X earlier today to make a rather pointed inquiry about Roblox's pace of change and repeat her allegation that it "is a breeding ground for sex predators."